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CRAIG BASSEThe religious network she founded is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
CLEARWATER - Molly D'Andrea, a founder of the Christian Television Network and WCLF-Ch. 22, its local flagship station, died Thursday at her Seminole home.
Mrs. D'Andrea, who led religious crusades around the world and established an orphanage in Nepal, had Lou Gehrig's disease, said her husband, Bob. She was 65. Her death came as the CTN, an all-religious network, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a telethon that began Monday.
"Her last crusade was probably a year ago in Africa," her husband said Friday. "She went to Africa twice last year. She was in Nigeria. She was in Burkina Faso. She also ministered in the Philippines. She went to close to about every country of the world. She went to England about a year and a half ago. And to France, for crusades."
The St. Petersburg native, the fourth generation of a line of women who preached, "was full of energy," her husband said. "She loved people and loved to minister."
He added: "She was just a model wife. I couldn't have asked for a better wife."
Ordained in the Church Without Walls International, Tampa, she headed the Molly D'Andrea International Ministries, an outreach program for people who have been sexually abused or addicted, according to the network's Web site.
About 10 years ago, she became the host of Set Free If You Want to Be, a television show for people wanting "to come out of the homosexual lifestyle and to those wanting to be set free from sexual bondage."
It is aired 100 times a week on 82 TV stations in 26 states, in 198 countries and on 14 satellite networks, the Web site article said.
CTN features a mixture of nationally syndicated programs such as Pat Robertson's 700 Club as well as original local productions like It's Time for Herman and Sharron. It also offers a 24-hour-a-day "Prayer Line," and programs about area churches.
WCLF-TV, said to be one of the oldest Christian television stations in the country, signed on the air Oct. 24, 1979, with several donated mobile homes housing the equipment and offices.
Today, the network has stations in Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Tallahassee, Pensacola, Macon, Ga., Knoxville, Tenn., Santa Barbara, Calif. and Cedar Rapids and Dubuque, Iowa.
Survivors in addition to her husband include a daughter, Yolanda Morris, Denver; a son, Robert, Largo; a sister, Barbara Cash, Old Town; two grandchildren, Malaina D'Andrea and Isabella D'Andrea; and a stepgranddaughter, Stephanie Swafford.
E. James Reese Funeral Home & Crematory, Seminole, is in charge.
Information from Times files was used in this obituary.