Harold Philmon Reeves
Harold Philmon Reeves | |||
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Born | January 28, 1923 Shreveport, Louisiana | ||
Died | February 3, 2009 (aged 86) Lubbock, Texas Resting place: Resthaven Memorial Park | ||
Spouse | Rose Ayleen Lengefeld Reeves Two daughters: | ||
Religion | Southern Baptist clergyman | ||
Military Service | |||
Service/branch | United States Army Air Corps | ||
Rank | Navigator of B-26 Marauder who flew 30 missions |
Harold Philmon Reeves (January 28, 1923 — February 3, 2009) was a Texas clergyman who served as the first missionary to Thailand sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention.[1] Reeves and his wife, the former Rose Ayleen Lengefeld, established two congregations and an English-language ministry now known as the Baptist Student Center in Bangkok. The work in Thailand led to his designation as the Asian representative for the Southern Baptist Convention Radio and Television Mission, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas,[1]
Biography
Reeves was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, to Jesse Reeves (1897-1971) and the former Mary Ruth Fory. He graduated from high school in Shreveport and attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge before he joined the United States Army Air Corps, forerunner of the United States Air Force, as a navigator on B-26 Marauder bombers during World War II. He was credited with thirty missions in the European Theater of Operations.[1]
After military service, Reeves graduated in 1948 from Baptist-affiliated Baylor University in Waco, Texas. In 1951, he earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth prior to departing to Thailand.[1]
On returning from Thailand, Reeves pastored churches in McKinney near Dallas and Hawkins, near Tyler, Texas. Beginning in 1974, he pastored congregations in the Houston, area, including Clear Lake Baptist Church (1974-1980) and Eastwood Baptist Church (1980-1990). From 1990 to 1992, he was a staff member of First Baptist Church of Houston. He then served as pastor at Riverview Baptist in southeast Houston from 1992 to 1998. His final position from 1998- to 2005 was as chaplain of the Terrace Retirement Community in nearby Webster, Texas. Thereafter, Reeves and his wife relocated to Lubbock, Texas.[1]
A ministerial friend, the Reverend Todd Hamilton, pastor of the Evangelical Formosan Church, centered about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Webster, described Reeves as "very warm-hearted and very conscious" of the needs of church visitors. "He also was a great preacher. His wife was an elementary school teacher in Pearland, Texas. They were a wonderful team," Hamilton added.[2]
Reeves died in a Lubbock hospital of a heart attack six days after his 86th birthday. In addition to his wife, he was survived by two daughters, Ahnna R. Parker and her husband, Dr. William Parker, of Lubbock, and Sara R. Singleton and her husband, Tim Singleton, of Huntsville, Alabama, and four grandchildren. Services were held at the First Baptist Church on Broadway Street in Lubbock. Burial followed at Resthaven Memorial Park in Lubbock.[1]