Of all his duties as a minister, the Rev. Jack R. Rees most enjoyed face-to-face time with members of his congregation, counseling the elderly, youths and families who were tackling major life events.

He was also known, in multiple churches where he presided over the decades, for being the singing minister, a Sinatra fan who crooned along with the church choir.

Mr. Rees, 79, a longtime resident of Greensburg, died Wednesday from complications related to cancer. He spent his final months in Hempfield.

He was born in Ardara in North Huntington and grew up in Turtle Creek, the youngest of eight children.

"He knew he was called to the ministry pretty early," said his granddaughter, Kate Abel.

Mr. Rees studied at Robert Morris University, then Robert Morris College, and Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, and finished his undergraduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh. After that, he received his master's in divinity from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

He was ordained an elder in the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1962 and served churches in the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the EUB Church for 12 years. Later, he ministered at churches in the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church for 22 years, retiring in 1995. He also sat on the ordination committee of the Methodist church.

From the time they started a family, he and his late wife, Faith Osterwise Rees, never saw it as a hardship that they moved from parsonage to parsonage, serving in eight different Western Pennsylvania communities. During those years, they lived in East Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Irwin, Johnstown, Uniontown, Bridgeville, Rochester in Beaver County and New Stanton.

But his daughter, Hope Abel, of Dormont, admitted, "It was tough on my brother and me with all the moving. It was kind of like being an Army brat, but you never got to see anything fun. But it made us closer. The one constant thing was my family."

One of Mr. Rees' greatest undertakings was establishing a mission church at Country Hills in Irwin in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He often recalled the grassroots effort, knocking on people's doors to round up congregants.

His granddaughter, Ms. Abel, said giving sermons was never her grandfather's forte.

"His talent was sitting with people one-on-one and getting them to talk with him and helping them, whether they were in their sick bed or at the church."

He was also very involved with the church's summer camps at Jumonville and Allegheny, often leading the youth in song.

A fan of Broadway and movie musicals, he sang in the church choir as a child, and as a camp counselor and a Sunday school teacher. He sang along with the choir as a minister. And up until this year, he sang at his church in Greensburg.

An avid history buff, he worked as a security guard at Westmoreland Museum of American Art after he retired. For him, it was "another way to spend time with people," Ms. Abel said, as was attending hockey games and tea parties and school plays to see his grandchildren.

In addition to his granddaughter and daughter, he is survived by a son, Don Rees, of State College, Centre County; and two other grandchildren.

Service and interment are private.

Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society at 800-227-2345 or the Western PA Conference of the United Methodist Church at 800-886-3382.