Roy Aubry Kornegay Jr., Texas Baptist minister of education and associational director of missions, died April 6. He was 82. He was born Aug. 15, 1937, in Shreveport, La., to Roy Aubry Kornegay and Clara Gray Kornegay. He earned his undergraduate degree from Howard Payne College, where he met and married Janette Sewell. He went on to earn a dual master’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as minister of education at churches in Alvarado, Dumas, Texas City and Pampa before serving at North Phoenix Baptist Church in Phoenix, Ariz. From there, he went to First Baptist Church in Amarillo, where he was minister of education 15 years. He wrote Sunday school curriculum, Vacation Bible School material and missions literature for the Baptist Sunday School Board. He served 17 years as director of missions for Amarillo Baptist Association before he retired in 2004. His denominational service included terms on the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board and the Howard Payne University board of trustees. He served as chair of the SBS Metro Religious Education Association. Locally, he served on the Amarillo Baptist Community Service Board and the High Plains Foundation Board.  He was on the YMCA board of directors and was the 2004 Recipient of the Harry Mays Award. He enjoyed singing with the Panhandle Singing Men of Texas. He began leading tours of the Holy Land in 1974 and set a goal of visiting every place mentioned in the Bible. He later expanded that list, visiting 64 countries. Because of the distinctive hat he wore with a pin from every country he visited, he became widely recognized around the world as “the man in the orange hat.” He is survived by his wife, Janette Kornegay; three daughters and their husbands, Kari and Brian McClure of Coppell, Karla and Brent Weatherly of Amarillo, Kathy and Jon Brooks of Keller; 11 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Memorial gifts can be donated in his honor to High Plains Retreat Center, Kornegay Hall Fund, P.O. Box 7709, Amarillo, TX  79114 or online here.

Charlotte Eddings Ware, a longtime Sunday school teacher and deacon at Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas, died June 5 in Fort Worth. She was 85. She was born March 29, 1935, in Houston to John Loyd Eddings and Daisy Drake Eddings. She graduated from Hardin-Simmons University with a degree in chemistry and went to work at the federal scientific installation at Los Alamos, N.M., before beginning graduate studies at Baylor University. At a Baylor Theatre event in February 1957, she met Weston Ware, then a seminary student in Fort Worth. They married six months later. While her husband completed his seminary education, she taught school. In 1958, Convair Aircraft manufacturing company, a predecessor of Lockheed and General Dynamics, named her one of the top five public schoolteachers in Fort Worth. In 1961, the family moved to Hawaii, where her husband served as director of Baptist student ministries. They moved to Dallas in 1964 before moving to Panama in 1966 when her husband became director of the Peace Corps there. Assignments to Puerto Rico and New York followed before returning to Texas in 1974. At each stop along the way, she found a way to teach and share her faith—opening her home to young Peace Corps volunteers in Panama, teaching Sunday school to immigrant workers in Puerto Rico, teaching Vacation Bible School in New York and helping with Vietnamese refugee resettlement in Texas. When the couple returned to Dallas, she taught at Health Special High School, a public school for pregnant teens, where she again was recognized as a top teacher. In addition to her service as a Bible teacher and deacon at Cliff Temple, she also was involved in the church’s social service ministries. In her early 70s, she became an accomplished artist until she began suffering from gradual memory loss. She was a founding board member of the T.B. Maston Foundation. She was preceded in death by an infant daughter, Caroline Brooke Ware. She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Weston; son Cameron and his wife Wendy; daughter Keren Ware Cummins; and five grandchildren. An online memorial service will be hosted by Cliff Temple Baptist Church at 6 p.m. on July 1. To receive a Zoom invitation, click here. Memorial gifts may be made to the T.B. Maston Foundation c/o Royce Rose, treasurer, at 5414 Clover Ct., Fort Worth, TX 76132 or another nonprofit of choice.

James L. Shields, a Texas Baptist educator who taught religion more than three decades at Howard Payne University and Hardin-Simmons University, died June 3 in Abilene. He was 86.  He was born Nov. 10, 1933, in Byers to T.J. “Johnse” Shields and Mildred Gainus Shields. In 1942, the family moved to Phillips, where he graduated from high school in 1951, one year after he surrendered to the ministry and began preaching. As a student at what was then Wayland Baptist College, he met Corrine Cook of Amarillo. They were married in the summer of 1953, and both graduated from Wayland in 1955. The couple moved to Fort Worth, where he began his seminary studies and Corrine taught in the public schools. He earned his Bachelor of Divinity and Doctor of Theology degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. While attending seminary, he served as pastor of Direct Baptist Church in Lamar County and pastor of Floyd Baptist Church in Hunt County. He went to work for the student department of the Baptist General Convention of Texas in 1963 and was assigned to Howard Payne College as director of religious activities. In 1966, he was invited to join the religion faculty at Howard Payne. He accepted the position and continued to serve there until 1984. After resigning from Howard Payne, he accepted a faculty position with Hardin-Simmons and taught there until he retired in 1999. Howard Payne University awarded him the Medal of Service in 1990. He was selected as Cullen Professor of the Year at Hardin-Simmons in 1993 and was recognized as senior professor of theology in 1995. He was elected Faculty Member of the Year by the Hardin-Simmons faculty and staff in 1999. His real joy interacting with students and celebrating their ministry as they followed God’s direction in their lives. Throughout his teaching career and 14 years after retirement, he served churches 63 times as interim pastor, including serving in that role multiple times for some congregations. He also served churches as a supply preacher and Bible study leader, and he led revivals, retreats, conferences and other special services. He was preceded in death by his brother, Bob Shields. He is survived by his wife Corrine; their daughter Cindy DeJulio and her husband Michael; son Jerry Shields and his wife Kay of Colorado City; three grandsons; one granddaughter; and sister Lona Howard of Brownwood. Memorial services will be held at 10 a.m. on June 8 at First Baptist Church in Abilene.

Paula Barry Jeser, who served two decades as executive director of Christian Women’s Job Corps in El Paso, died May 19. She was 72. She was born on Sept. 29, 1947, in Lubbock to Claude and Dana Barry. She and Tom Jeser married Sept. 11, 1976, and they worked side by side to create Jeser Home Realty, where she was office manager. In addition to leading CWJC in El Paso, she was a certified instructor in the job-training and life skills ministry. In that role, she traveled globally and trained women so they could start CWJC programs in their communities. She was elected president of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas in 2008. She grew up riding horses and passed that passion along to her children and grandchildren. She is survived by her husband of 44 years Thomas Allin Jeser; daughter Cecily Denise Jeser-Cannavale and her husband Jason Drew Cannavale; daughter Jacklyn Michelle Richards and her husband Shaylor Paul Richards; and five grandchildren.

Rebecca (Becky) Lynn Ellison of Waco, Christian Women’s Job Corps/Christian Men’s Job Corps consultant for Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, died May 16. She was 58. She was born Oct. 28, 1961, in Houston to John T. and Marie Massey. After graduating from Marlin High School, she went to Baylor University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work. At Baylor, she also met her future husband, Michael Ellison. She began working with CWJC, a job-training and life-skills ministry of WMU, in 2004. Six years ago—four years after she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer with no approved treatment—she became full-time strategist and consultant for CWJC and CMJC with Texas WMU. In that role, she worked with more than 50 ministry sites around the state. She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, David Massey. She is survived by her husband of 36 years, Michael; daughter Chelsie Massey and her husband Robert; grandson Robert Massey III; and sister Karen Gonzalez. A memorial service is scheduled at 11 a.m. on June 20 at First Woodway Baptist Church in Waco.

Samuel Eugene Underwood, pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmers Branch more than 29 years, died April 24 at his home in Carrollton after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 68. Underwood was born in San Angelo to Homer Garth and Jessie Simonton Underwood. After graduating from San Angelo Central High School in 1970, he and a group of friends from First Baptist Church in San Angelo attended the University of Texas in Austin together and developed lifelong friendships. Underwood graduated from UT with an undergraduate degree in psychology, earned a Master of Divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and a master’s degree in biblical studies from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, N.J. He also conducted doctoral work at the University of Dallas, focusing on the early church and early church fathers. He and Ellen Evans of Bowie married in 1986. Underwood was ordained to the ministry at Carter Lake Baptist Church in Bowie, where he was pastor from 1986 to 1991. He was pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmers Branch from 1991 until his death. He was preceded in death by his brother, John Felix. He is survived by his wife, Ellen; son Will Underwood and his wife Veronica of Orlando, Fla.; daughter Pamela Underwood of Seattle, Wash.; daughter Molly Mitchell and her husband Elijah of Waxahachie; and granddaughter Esther. He was looking forward to the birth of another grandchild, due in September. He also is survived by his brothers Doug and Jesse and his sister Pam. Underwood donated his remains to the UT Southwestern Medical School. A celebration of life service is scheduled at 10 a.m. on June 13 at First Baptist Church in Farmers Branch.

Merle T. Basden of Granbury, longtime Texas Baptist leader in religious education, died April 26. He was 98. He was born Nov. 23, 1921, in Memphis, Tenn. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II. Basden earned his undergraduate degree from Union University, a Master of Religious Education degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and his doctorate from the University of North Texas. He was minister of education at First Baptist Church in Paris and at churches in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas. He became director of education for Tarrant Baptist Association in April 1961 and served the association 27 years. After his retirement in 1988, he was the executive director of the Southern Baptist Religious Education Association nine years. He received the Distinguished Leader Award in 1996 from the Baptist Association of Christian Educators. He was preceded in death by his wife Jane Orr Basden, his daughter Sharon Basden Frankenfield, his sister Ruby Bragg, and his brothers James Basden and Harold Basden. He is survived by his son Michael Basden, son-in-law Gary Frankenfield, grandson Christopher Frankenfield and several nieces and nephews. Memorials may be made to the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering, Baptist General Convention of Texas, 7557 Rambler Rd., Suite 1100, Dallas, TX 75231-2310.

Bill R. Austin, longtime Texas Baptist pastor and educator, died April 17. He was 88. He was born Aug. 6, 1931 to Gilbert Wayne and Lola Ellis Austin in O’Brien. He professed faith in Christ and was baptized at age 9, surrendered to the ministry at age 12, was preaching youth revivals throughout West Texas by the time he was 15, and was called to his first pastorate at age 18. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Hardin-Simmons University and his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Baylor University. He met Margaret Heath of Levelland at Hardin-Simmons, and they married Aug. 7, 1950. He taught at Hardin-Simmons and Temple Junior College, and he served as chaplain at Baylor. His many pastorates included the First Baptist churches of Waxahachie, Vernon and Nacogdoches; University Baptist Church in Abilene; Calvary Baptist Church and Park Lane Drive Baptist Church in Waco; and churches in Oklahoma and California. He was a prolific writer and his many published books included Austin’s Topical History of Christianity. He developed an interest in art at a very early age and he painted off and on all his life, mainly self-taught and working with oils. After retirement, he returned to the easel and began painting commissioned works. He was preceded in death by his oldest brother Wayne and his sister Peggy. He is survived by two brothers, Hubert and Roy; his wife, Margie; son, Randy Austin and wife, Dara, of North Richland Hills; daughter, Terri McKee and husband, Mark of Hewitt; four grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Santiago Garcia Jr., retired pastor/evangelist, died April 3. He was 89. Garcia was born April 27, 1930, in San Antonio to Sotera and Santiago Garcia. After answering the call to the gospel ministry at age 18, he studied theology at Mexican Baptist Bible Institute, now Baptist University of the Américas, where he was one of three in the school’s first graduating class. As a student, he was pastor of Memorial Baptist Church in Pleasanton, a mission of First Baptist Church in Pleasanton, which licensed him to preach. He established ministry points in Christine, Charlotte, Poteet and Jourdanton. In 1950, he started a mission of South San Antonio Baptist Church, which ordained him. The mission constituted as Iglesia Bautista Sur San Antonio in 1952. The congregation was self-supporting from its inception, a feat highly uncommon at the time among Texas Baptist Spanish-speaking congregations. He joined the Houston-based Gene Williams Evangelism Association as an associate evangelist and led revivals in Texas, Mexico, Central America and Puerto Rico. During five decades in ministry, he was pastor of Iglesia Bautista Buen Pastor in Del Rio, Westlawn Baptist Church in San Antonio, Bonita Gardens Baptist Church in Houston, Seacroft Baptist Church in San Antonio, Northeast Hispanic Baptist Church in Converse and Iglesia Bautista in Somerset. In retirement, he continued to serve part-time as pastor of churches in Sutherland Springs, Elgin and Waelder. He served Texas Baptists on several denominational boards, including Baptist Memorial Hospital System in San Antonio. He was a member of the Convención Bautista Mexicana de Texas Committee of Seven, which recommended the convention’s historic unification agreement. He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Delia Pachecano Garcia; seven children; 13 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

Rebbie Frank Denton, longtime Texas Baptist pastor, development officer and denominational executive, died Feb. 7. He was 93. He was born June 17, 1926, to Lee Wood Denton and Winnie Davis Green in Lufkin and grew up in Clawson. After he graduated from high school at age 16, he worked for the Lufkin Foundry until he enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 17 with his mother’s permission. Denton served in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II as the radio operator on the USS Terror, a fleet minelayer. He survived a kamikaze attack that killed 41, left seven missing and wounded 123, as well as two typhoons in Okinawa. Those traumatic events had a significant impact on his spiritual journey and eventual call to ministry. After his discharge from the military, Denton attended Baylor University, where he met and married Dottie Juanez Austin. He completed his Bachelor of Divinity degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and served several Texas congregations as pastor, including churches in Fort Worth, Rainbow, Nemo, Val Verde and Quitman before moving to First Baptist Church in Ferguson, Mo. In 1963, he accepted a position as secretary of endowment and capital giving for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, followed by positions of director of development and public relations for Buckner Baptist Benevolences, executive director/treasurer of the Missouri Baptist Foundation, associate director of development for Southwestern Seminary in Southeast Texas and consultant for the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation. After his retirement, he embarked on a second career as a country poet, singer and songwriter. He performed numerous times with Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys, in addition to many solo appearances at meetings, conventions and group events. After a cancer diagnosis and during and after chemotherapy treatments, he took on the self-appointed role of chaplain at a local oncology center, where he ministered several years to patients, staff and doctors. He spent his final years at his son’s ranch outside of San Antonio. He was preceded in death by his wife of 46 years, Dottie; one brother; and two sisters. He is survived by his son Lowell Denton and wife of St. Hedwig, daughter Laura Denton Hill of McQueeney, and son Lloyd Denton and wife Nurtac of Munich, Germany; nine grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and one sister, Jo Anne Smith of Tyler.

James Leo Garrett Jr., distinguished professor of theology emeritus at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, died Feb. 5 in Nacogdoches. He was 94. Garrett was born Nov. 25, 1925, in Waco to James Leo Garrett Sr., an accounting professor at Baylor University, and Grace Hasseltine Jenkins Garrett. In 1935, he was baptized at Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco. In 1945, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English degree from Baylor University, where he was president of the centennial class. In 1948, he was awarded a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Southwestern Seminary and married fellow graduate Myrta Ann Latimer. He received a Master of Theology degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1949. Then he returned to Fort Worth to teach at Southwestern Seminary, as well as study toward a Doctor of Theology degree, which he completed in 1954. He wrote his dissertation on the theology of Baptist scholar and former Southwestern Seminary professor W.T. Conner. While a student at Southwestern Seminary, Garrett was pastor of three Baptist churches. In 1950, Garrett attended his first Baptist World Alliance meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, beginning a 50-year association with the world’s largest organization of Baptist churches. In 1962, as part of a faculty panel that invited Martin Luther King Jr. to lecture at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., Garrett and his colleagues rejected intense pressure for the invitation to be withdrawn. In 1965, Garrett attended the fourth and final session of the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church as a guest of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. One year later, he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Harvard University, where he wrote his dissertation on American Protestants’ writings on Roman Catholicism between the two Vatican councils. In 1967, Garrett served as coordinator of the first Conference on the Concept of the Believers’ Church, an international gathering in Louisville, Ky. In 1968, he studied postgraduate courses at the University of Oxford (Regent’s Park College) in England and was appointed chairman of the Study Commission on Cooperative Christianity for the Baptist World Alliance. In 1973, he was named director of J.M. Dawson Studies in Church-State and a professor of religion at Baylor, later becoming the Simon M. and Ethel Bunn Professor of Church-State Studies. In 2008, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Baylor. In his lengthy academic career, Garrett taught at Southwestern Seminary (1949–59, 1979–97), Southern Seminary (1959–73) and Baylor University (1973–79). He was a visiting professor at Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary and also lectured in Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, the Ukraine, and Romania, and at various other schools in the United States. Garrett and his wife, Myrta, received Southwestern Seminary’s L.R. Scarborough Award in 2007. He was the writer, co-author, editor or co-editor of more than 130 published works, including his two-volume Systematic Theology: Biblical, Historical, and Evangelical and Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study. Garrett was preceded in death by his wife, Myrta, in 2015. He is survived by three sons, James Leo Garrett III, Robert T. Garrett and Paul L. Garrett; four grandsons; and three great-grandchildren.

Louis R. Cobbs of Tyler, a former campus minister who was instrumental in developing Southern Baptists’ Missionary Journeyman program, died Feb. 2 in Tyler. He was 94. Cobbs was born on Nov. 8, 1925, in Dallas to Leo David Cobbs and Georgia Ann Swindell Cobbs. Upon graduating from high school, he entered the U.S. Navy V-12 Officer Training Program during World War II in preparation for service as a Navy chaplain. He attended Louisiana Tech University in Ruston and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and he graduated from Howard College in Birmingham, Ala., with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1945. He graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth with a Master of Divinity degree in 1950 and from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., with a Doctor of Ministry degree in 1978. He did post-graduate study at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Cobbs held student pastorates in Rains County and Lamar County, and he taught Bible and directed Baptist Student Ministries at the University of Texas in El Paso and Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He worked on the Texas Baptist Executive Board staff in Dallas as associate director of the department of student work from 1959 to 1964. He served 27 years on the staff of the Foreign Mission Board in Richmond, Va. In addition to his involvement in developing the Missionary Journeyman program, Cobbs served 20 years at the mission board as director of the personnel selection department, overseeing the appointment of more than 7,200 missionaries traveling to more than 55 countries. From 1989 to 1991, he served as a member of the staff of the president’s office and was liaison to six Southern Baptist seminaries. He also was a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Inter-Agency Council of the Southern Baptist Convention, working with chief executives of 20 boards and agencies. Following retirement in 1991, Cobbs remained actively involved in Baptist work as a member of First Baptist Church in Tyler and a volunteer with Smith County Baptist Association and the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He also served on the board of the T.B. Maston Foundation. Cobbs was preceded in death by his wife Mary Vic Cobbs; two daughters Becky Cobbs Fanning and Libby Gowin; grandson Justin Fanning; and brother George Cobbs. He is survived by wife Berta Seitz Cobbs; two sons, Bobby Cobbs and wife Cheryl, and David Cobbs and wife Tammy; eight grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. A memorial service is scheduled at 2 p.m. on Feb. 15 at First Baptist Church in Tyler. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Louis R. Cobbs Endowed Scholarship Fund at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology.