DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA) — A founding member of Decatur’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Church has died at the age of 109.
John Regan died Thursday. He was a World WII veteran who went on to serve as the NAACP’s attorney.
Mark Sorensen knew Regan through the church and said he left a deep impact.
“He helped the new fellowship, bought an old house and renovated it and to make it into our Unitarian house where we had church services, up to 1983 – when we bought brand new church. He kept the church alive and helped support it for a long time,” says Sorenson.
Regan was friends with James Parsons, the first African-American Federal District Judge. As the NAACP’s attorney, Regan helped fight against discrimination in Decatur restaurants.