William Masselink (1897-1973) | Heritage Hall, Hekman Library

William Masselink was born February 15, 1897, in Meservey, Iowa.  He began his theological training in Iowa at Grundy College.  Post-graduate work was done at Princeton Theological Seminary; Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky; and Chicago Divinity School.  During his ministry, he pursued additional graduate studies at the Free University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (1936-1937).

He was ordained in 1922 and began his ministry in the Lafayette CRC in Lafayette, Indiana.  Other churches served included Fourteenth Street, Holland, Michigan (1925); Alpine Avenue, Grand Rapids, Michigan (1928); and Second Englewood, Chicago, Illinois (1942).  In 1952, he began a teaching ministry at the Reformed Bible Institute, which continued until he retired in 1963.  He passed away October 19, 1973 at the age of seventy-six.

The obituary notice in the Acts of Synod of 1974 memorialized Dr. William Masselink as “a man with a great heart, full of love for his wife Mary, for his daughter and two sons, and also for the people in the churches he served.  He was a fervent minister of the Word, with great love for the Reformed truth and with ability to inspire his people for Christian living.”