Our Loss, Heaven's Gain (Part 2)

Editor’s Note: This is the second part of this article. The first part can be found in the Jan. 11 issue.

Lena “Marie” Priest, 89of Batesville, passed away on July 19. She attended Arkansas State College in Jonesboro (now Arkansas State University) and State Teacher’s College in Conway (now the University of Central Arkansas). She and Retired BMA Pastor Forrest Priest were married on June 17, 1953 at Little River Baptist Church. Bro. Priest served as a missionary for the Mount Calvary Association and planted and later served as pastor of the Oak Grove Liberty Baptist Church in Tuckerman. Other pastorates include: White Hall in McCrory, Lakeside in Newport, Westside in Osceola, Meadow Lake in Oil Trough and Sardis Road in Mabelvale. He also served for 11 years as an Arkansas state missionary to plant and later pastor Ramsey Heights in Batesville and served as pastor of Hillcrest in Cave City before retiring from the pastorate in 1997.

Mary Sue (Boone) Johnson, 69 of Greenbrier passed away on July 18. She was a member of Grace in Bee Branch, where her husband of 50 years, David, was pastor.

David G. Johnson, 70 of Greenbrier, passed away July 29, 11 days after Sue, his wife of 50 years, passed away. David loved the Lord, his family, his church, the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees. He enjoyed riding his motorcycle, playing softball and cheering on the Arkansas Razorbacks. He retired from Arkansas Farm Bureau and was serving as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Bee Branch.

Redmond Keisler, 68 of Sheridan, passed away July 28. His career in television and sound engineering led him to start his own video production company and aided in the spread of the gospel as he traveled to several foreign countries as the videographer for the Baptist Missionary Association. He also spent more than 40 years playing and singing bluegrass music with his brothers, Randy and Rick as The Keisler Brothers, and in recent years as The Redmond Keisler Band. He was passionate about raising funds and donating his time, talent and energy to the church and for the Kids in Bluegrass program to which he provided instruments for kids eager to learn and to help promote bluegrass to a younger generation. He was a member of Immanuel Baptist Church in Sheridan.

John Henry Allen, 78 of Bentonville, passed away on Aug. 7. He placed his trust in the Lord at a revival at his church in 1954, at the age of 10. Bro. Allen served as clerk/treasurer for the BMA of the Ozarks for over 40 years, on the board of the BMA Theological Seminary for 10 years, Ministers Resource Services for 10 years and also served many years at his church, First Baptist Church of Cave Springs, in several positions, including deacon, teacher and worship leader. He attended Central Baptist College for two years before transferring to the University of Arkansas, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1966. He was a Certified Public Accountant at his private practice for over 40 years and received several public service awards from the Springdale Chamber of Commerce and the Arkansas Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He served as president of the Springdale Lion’s Club and was granted an honorary lifetime membership.

Jack Dempsey Bloxom, 90 of Conway, passed away Aug. 14. After surrendering to the gospel ministry as a high school student, he attended Jacksonville Baptist College, where he met and later married the late Mary Jane (Janie) Strong in 1953. He served as a pastor of churches in both Arkansas and Texas for the majority of six decades, including Central at Conway and Pleasant Valley at Wooster. He also enjoyed years of service with Dale Carnegie, organizing and teaching classes. He later worked for Citizens Fidelity Insurance associated with Roller Funeral Homes, until he retired at the age of 83.

Carol Evelyn Porter Shine, 75 of Jacksonville, Texas passed away on Aug. 14. She was a member of Enterprise Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Texas where her husband of 58 years, BMA pastor and former BMA Seminary Professor James (Jim) Shine is pastor. Her husband also pastored White Hall, McCrory, Ark. and other churches in Texas, including: Mixon, Troup; College Heights, Nacogdoches; and First, New Summerfield. In 2016, she retired after 30 years of service at the BMA Theological Seminary (BMATS), 15 of those as assistant to President Dr. Charley Holmes. She was also a Sunday School teacher, GMA counselor, Bible study teacher and friend in many churches and communities in Arkansas, Missouri and Texas.

Lucille “Ms. E.” Edwards, 83 of Jacksonville, Texas passed away Aug. 12. She was the widow of the late Mart Edwards, who pastored churches in Texas, including Travis Street Baptist Church at Jacksonville and his last pastorate, Frankston Baptist Church at Frankston. She was lovingly known as “Ms. E” during her 20+ years of teaching. She was a member of Friendship Baptist Church for many years.

Janet Carol Vail Race, 63 of Fairfield, Texas, passed away on Aug. 18. For 43 years, she was married to Shelby Race, who has served as worship pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Fairfield, Texas for 38 years. She served as an educator for over 33 years until her retirement in 2019.

John Larry Goswick, 72 of Conway passed away Friday, Aug. 19. He was a member of Central Baptist Church in Conway. For 40 years he, along with his late wife, Barbara who served as pianist, served as a worship leader in various churches in Arkansas including: Central, Ashdown; North Hills, Sherwood; Central, Conway; Oak Park, Little Rock; and Springhill, Greenbrier. He also served at Mt. Calvary in Chickasaw, Ala. He was also instrumental in computerizing the mailing list for the Baptist Trumpet and donated many hours to assist this ministry with other computer-related projects. John retired as the director of instructional technology at the Pulaski County Special School District in 2009 and pursued a second master’s degree so he could continue to serve his community in the field of Emergency Management. He worked with both the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management and the Arkansas State Police.