Obituary: J. Melburn Sibley

J. Melburn Sibley of Grapevine, a Texas Baptist pastor and denominational worker, died Dec. 16. He was 89. He was born Sept. 12, 1935, in Perryton to J.M. Sibley Sr. and Iva Crutcher Sibley. He attended Hardin-Simmons University before earning both an undergraduate degree and a Master of Arts degree at Baylor University. He also earned a Master of Divinity degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. During college and seminary, he was pastor of Little River Baptist Church in Cameron. From 1961 to 1967, he was pastor of First Baptist Church in Karnes City. He became superintendent at South Texas Children’s Home in Beeville in 1967, serving there until he was called as pastor of First Baptist Church in Eagle Lake in 1973. From 1990 to 1995, he was a vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention Stewardship Commission in Nashville, Tenn. He later worked as a consultant with Cargill Associates in Fort Worth and as an interim pastor of several churches. Sibley served on the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and on the BGCT Committee to Nominate Institutional Board Members. He also served on several library boards and was the past president of three Rotary Clubs. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Martha Sibley; daughter Michele Riddle and her husband Ken; son Michael Sibley and his wife Hanna; two granddaughters; and one grandson. Memorial gifts in his memory can be made to Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary or First Baptist Church of Keller.