Communications

Martha Fern Hickman Barron, 84, of Columbia, Tennessee, died unexpectedly August 23, 2022. Martha, a 1959 graduate of Bethel College (now Bethel University), was a member of First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Columbia (Columbia Presbytery). A lifelong educator, she retired from the Maury County Board of Education. Her son, William Lee Barron II, is an […]

James Douglas Phelps, Jr. James Douglas Phelps, Jr., of Kingston Springs, Tennessee, an elder at Brenthaven Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Nashville Presbytery) died August 22, 2022. He served the Cumberland Presbyterian Denomination in various was as both an ordained minister and later as an elder. He served as a trustee of the Historical Foundation of the […]

William Vesely died August 23, 2022. His daughter, Patricia L. “Tricia” Vesely, serves as Music Director for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Germantown, Tennessee (West Tennessee Presbytery), and is Visiting Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible and Christian Ethics at Memphis Theological Seminary.

Ministry Council Summary of Actions (August 2022)   The Ministry Council and the Ministry Teams met August 18-20, 2022, at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Germantown, TN and Faith Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Bartlett, TN for their regularly scheduled meetings. Members of the Ministry Council in attendance were Carla Bellis (MC President), Rev. Kenny Butcher, […]

Larry J. Robertson, 74, of Batesville, Arkansas, died August 19, 2022. He was a member of New Hope Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Arkansas Presbytery) in Batesville where he served as an elder and Sunday school teacher for several years.

Dale R. Kelley, 82, of Huntingdon, Tennessee, died August 20, 2022. Kelley recently stepped down as athletics director of Bethel University in McKenzie, Tennessee, after serving in that capacity since July 2012. As a Bethel student, Kelley was an accomplished basketball and baseball player. Kelley was inducted into the Bethel Athletics Hall of Fame in […]

Rev. Kenneth Paul Phillips The Reverend Kenneth Paul Phillips, 81, of Lenoir City, Tennessee, and pastor of Heartland Cumberland Presbyterian Church, died August 16, 2022. He was born June 28, 1941, to William Ed Phillips and Thelma Phillips. Ken graduated from Lenoir City High School in 1959, married Marjorie Sue Lee in 1963, and spent […]

Cumberland Presbyterian: October 17, 1961 Bethel College has enrolled more full time students and also more Cumberland Presbyterian students in its fall session than any time in the past. Although the total enrollment is not as high as expected, 540 students have enrolled, which is slightly above the enrollment of 1960. This is the 119th […]

In 1961, Rita Wilson, a young Cumberland Presbyterian from Humboldt, Tennessee, won the Miss Tennessee pageant. She is featured in “Our Stories” in the August 2022 issue of the Cumberland Presbyterian Magazine. She was also featured, along with two other pageant winners, in the August 25, 1961, issue of LIFE.   LIFE®© 1961

August 15, 2022 (RNS) By Emily McFarlan Miller Frederick Buechner was asked on numerous occasions how he would sum up everything he had preached and written in both his fiction and nonfiction. The answer, he said, was simply this: “Listen to your life.” That theme was constant across more than six decades in his career […]