Sid Ward

Sidney Joseph Ward III, age 73, left this world and went to his heavenly home with Jesus on December 11 2023.  He was surrounded by loving family, and passed peacefully in the arms of his beloved wife, Donna, at their home in Oxnard, CA.

Three Celebrations of Life Service will be held. One is Saturday, January 6, 10 am at Calvary Chapel Oxnard 2001 Eastman, Oxnard, CA. A second one will be held January 7 at 1 pm at Calvary Fellowship. The last is  on Saturday, February 3, at 2:00 pm at Eden Chapel Church, 9211 S Fairgrounds Road, Perkins, OK, with interment in Glenwood Cemetery following the service.

Sid was born to Sidney Joseph Ward Jr. and Mary Ann Tourtellotte Ward on September 26, 1950, in Roswell, New Mexico, on Walker Air Force Base.  He was the first of three children, followed by his sister, Mary Elizabeth Ward Pasqualucci, and his brother Richard Alan Ward.  His parents divorced when he was 11 years old.  At the age of 12, the family was living in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and it was decided that Sid needed to get a job to help out his single Mom.  His first job was as a janitor at the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA.  

From age 12 on, Sid worked while also attending school.  When it came time for college, he went to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.  He was in ROTC, although at the time, being in ROTC was very unpopular due to the Viet Nam War, and how the country felt about the War!  

One of Sid’s fondest memories about his OSU experience was when his mother signed him up for a human geography summer class. The class culminated with a three-week trip throughout Europe.  This is when he met the love of his life, Donna Lynd.  During that trip, they became friends and really got to know one another.  Ironically, both Sid and Donna grew up in Stillwater.  They graduated from Stillwater high school, in different years, and both went to OSU.  They both taught Sunday School classes at the huge First United Methodist Church—she taught 3^rd grade in one building—he taught 5^th grade in another. Yet, they never met until the 1969 European trip.  They fell madly in love and got married August 7, 1971.

Sid became an officer in the United States Air Force, and with his young bride by his side, went off to fly fighter jets.  During his early air force years, Sid was stationed at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Japan, for a while.  Donna would stay in Okinawa for long periods while Sid was deployed to Taiwan.  Also, when storms were coming, the men and airplanes would take off for somewhere safe.  The USAF wives and children would weather the storm with no electricity, no television, and no phones. Sid was qualified in the F-4 fighter squadron in Air-to-Air, Air-to-Ground, and Nuclear.  Sid was blessed during his Air Force years. There were Air-to-Air near misses, aircraft emergencies, and other near-death experiences. 

Sid and Donna had an opportunity to get their Doctorates at the University of Southern California.  While at USC Sid and Donna had valuable educational and work experiences.  They left USC with no college debt.

In addition to his Air force career, Sid had other impressive career experiences.  He believed that all of these experiences were training opportunities provided by God to prepare him for  his final career yet to come:  The design and development of the Experimental Learning Center; the design and development of five centers that would allow people to work remotely without working from home, also known as Telebusiness Work centers; Human Resources work for both Hughes and General Dynamics; designing safety training manuals for Miners that allowed them to be trained while being 1.5 miles underground; leading a team to build the first computers on the Aerospace assembly line and suggesting putting plastic over the keyboards and monitors to keep the computers from shorting out; and starting three companies of his own with partners.  

Sid and Donna participated in a Crown Financial Ministry study, and Sid realized that this study had the potential of changing lives for thousands of people.  Sid and Donna became the Crown Directors for the West Coast and Hawaii region. They traveled from church-to-church helping people to learn what God had to say about money and possessions.  When the founder of Crown decided to break from Crown and form Compass Financial Ministries, Sid and Donna went with him on that path. 

Sid and Donna were financially sound and debt free, and felt called to serve.  Sid became the Executive Pastor at the Harbor Church, for a dollar!  God provided him with many opportunities for counseling, process improvement, and ministering to a stubborn flock.  Sid had learned these important skills many years before becoming a pastor.

When it was time for him to move, he became a pastor at Calvary Chapel Oxnard.  He counseled and put processes into place.  His heart was in financial discipleship, so he used this ministry, not only to help people financially, but more importantly, to lead them to Christ and their salvation.  By allowing them to work on the earthly money and possessions, it allowed them to find the eternal through Jesus Christ.  In Sid’s words, “saving their life financially to save their souls eternally.”  

Following Christ, Sid founded Calvary Fellowship in April 2020 to minister to those who were affected by Covid. Following biblical financial principles, this tiny congregation has been able to give hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout the world to the orphans, the poor, the overlooked, and the unreached. 

Sid was predeceased by both parents, and his brother.  Sid is survived by his wife, Donna Lynd Ward; his son, Erik Everett Ward (wife Jamie), their three children, Elijah, Jeremiah, and Erika; and his son Benjamin Lynd Ward, (wife Yam) and their two children Hanna and Mickey.  He is also survived by his sister, Mary Elizabeth Ward Pasqualucci, and her family, nephews Anthony Pasqualucci (wife Katy, children: Adam, Julian, Nora), and Jeffrey Pasqualucci (wife Maureen, son Blaise, daughter Lucille).

In lieu of flowers to honor Sid’s Memory, the family requests that Memorial donations be made to:  Calvary Fellowship in honor of Sid, Address is 2500 Peninsula Road Oxnard, CA 93035