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Rev. Lavaughn Venchael Booth Obituary

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Rev. Lavaughn Venchael Booth

January 7, 1919 - November 16, 2002

Rev. Lavaughn Venchael Booth Obituary

Lavaughn Venchael Booth was born in Collins, Mississippi, January 7, 1919. In 1936 he graduated from Old Hopewell High School.That same year he preached his first sermon and became the fourth generation preacher in his family. Booth attended Alcorn A&M College where he received his bachelor's degree in 1940. He also attended Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia, and Howard University in Washington, D.C. He graduated in 1943 from the Howard University School of Religion with honors and as president of his class. In 1944 Booth was installed as the minister of a Baptist church in Gary, Indiana, where he served for eight years. On July 19, 1952, Rev. Booth accepted a call to Zion Baptist Church in Cincinnati. He headed a great renovation and addition to the church building. Then, a few years later, the city informed Rev. Booth that Zion would have to relocate due to an urban renewal project. Rev. Booth moved the Zion congregation to a new building in Avondale in 1961. Rev. Booth has served the local community in many ways. He has worked with the Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee, the NAACP, the Protestant Scout Committee, and the YMCA. He has participated on Dialogue, a local television program on WKRC-TV produced by the National Council of Christians and Jews. From 1968 to 1989, Rev. Booth was a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Cincinnati, the first African American person on that board. In 1963 he chaired the political campaign of Theodore M. Berry. He was also instrumental in the 1965 election of William N. Lovelace as municipal court judge. He has also been active nationally and internationally. He founded the Progressive National Baptist Convention in 1961, a 'first' for African American Baptists on the national level. Booth has held several positions within the American Bible Society, including Special Secretary in the Department of Church Relations. Fittingly, Rev. Booth has been honored with several honorary degrees and numerous awards. Rev. Booth resigned as pastor of Zion Baptist Church in May 1984, after serving the congregation for 31 years, and became pastor of the newly formed Olivet Baptist Church. In 1990, he helped found the Marva Collins Preparatory School, which began by operating out of the basement of Olivet Baptist Church. ......................................... Born on January 7, 1919 in Covington County, Mississippi, Reverend Booth received a bachelor's degree in American history from Alcorn AM College; a bachelor's degree in divinity from Howard University; and a master's degree in church history from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He began his ministry with First Baptist Church of Warrenton, Virginia and continued his ministry with First Baptist Church of Gary, Indiana. He pastored Zion Baptist Church in the Avondale area of Cincinnati for 32 years before founding the Olivet Baptist Church in Silverton. Last year, he came out of retirement to pastor the Church upon the Rock in Anderson, Indiana.In 1961, Reverend Booth founded the Progressive National Baptist Convention (PNBC). The PNBC became the household of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement among African-American Baptists. As Dr. Lewis V. Baldwin noted, ``King, while siding with progressives, had no active role with the organization of the PNBC.'' Dr. King at his last meeting with the PNBC in 1967 in Cincinnati emphasized according to convention minutes ``that he is a member of the PNBC. He has come to speak not as a civil rights leader, but as a minister of the gospel.'' The PNBC split from the National Baptist Convention and formed a denomination that played an active role in the civil rights movement by joining with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and provided Dr. King with a national platform. Reverend Booth served as its president from 1971-1974. Progressives today have 2.5 million members in 1,800 churches nationwide.But Reverend Booth's focus was his local ministry, and he said, ``We should have concern for the physical, as well as the spiritual well-being of people.'' He initiated economic development projects, secured the credit to build hundreds of low-income housing units and a church-run nursing home, and later established the region's first black-owned bank. Described as a visionary who dedicated his life to the Lord, he was driven to do for others, trying to make the world and his community a better place to live.Reverend Booth's civil and community activities are legendary. He was the first African-American member of the University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees. He was a founding member of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, served on the board of the Cincinnati City Gospel Mission and as vice president of the Gospel World Alliance. He helped to establish the Marva Collins Preparatory School in Cincinnati; the Cincinnati Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast, a service that offered prayers for newly-elected public servants; and the National Prayer League.Reverend Booth is survived by his sons, Paul Booth of Cincinnati, who is a member of the Cincinnati City Council; Lavaughn Booth Jr. of Chicago; and Rev. Dr. William Booth of Hampton, Virginia; and daughters Anna-Marie Booth of San Francisco, and Dr. Georgia Leeper of Memphis. He is also survived by 14 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. We are blessed by his life and having known him.016 ......................................... For nearly four hours Friday, friends, family members, colleagues and dignitaries from around the country spoke of their admiration and affection for the Rev. L. Venchael Booth. They all agreed that the Rev. Mr. Booth profoundly affected them as few had. And the people in the pews at Zion Baptist Church in Avondale concurred. It was an emotional, yet jubilant, sendoff to a man who accomplished great things. Their feelings were summed up nicely in a letter by Hope Taft, wife of Gov. Robert Taft. 'His passing brings an end to an era and a giant of a man,' Mrs. Taft wrote. The Rev. Mr. Booth died Nov. 16 in Memphis, Tenn. He was pastor of Zion Baptist for 32 years before founding the Olivet Baptist Church in Silverton in 1984. Friday, tears were shed when the choirs of both churches blended their voices to sing God's praises in honor of their beloved pastor. And Diann McMillian's stirring solo brought some to their feet. The Rev. Mr. Booth was also founder of the Progressive National Baptist Convention in 1961 and served a term as its president. He also founded the National Prayer League and the Marva Collins Preparatory School. He was a founding board member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and the first African-American to serve on the board of trustees of the University of Cincinnati. As pastor of Zion Baptist, he did what no other pastor before him had done; he began an extensive social outreach and sponsored construction of several housing complexes. Although the congregation was mostly poor, he set high financial goals and with hard work and faith in God, attained them. Throughout the '50s, '60s and '70s, he worked to improve housing, education and income levels for African-Americans in his congregations, in his community and across the country. People came to the church Friday to pay tribute from as far away as Oklahoma City. Many who couldn't attend sent letters or proxies. Among those attending the service were: Cincinnati Mayor Charles Luken; the Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, civil rights activist and pastor of Greater New Light Baptist Church; Robert 'Chip' Harrod, executive director of the National Conference of Community and Justice; the Rev. M.L. Jemison, president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention; the Rev. Walter L. Fauntroy, president of the National Black Leadership Roundtable, and many whom the Rev. Mr. Booth pastored or mentored. Letters from Ohio Gov. Bob Taft and his wife were read, as well as one from Coretta Scott King, widow of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 'Rev. Booth was a loyal and strong supporter of Martin,' and had made many contributions to the King Center, Mrs. King wrote. After mentioning the many contributions that the Rev. Mr. Booth made in the communities he served, the governor wrote: 'Rev. Booth has left behind a remarkable legacy to Cincinnati, Ohio and the nation.' Carl H. Lindner Jr., chairman of the American Financial Corp., couldn't attend because of illness, but in a letter he said the Rev. Mr. Booth was a treasured friend, a wise man and a trusted adviser. 'We were both born with little and we both had lofty goals,' Mr. Lindner wrote. 'He was determined to make a difference. He was just plain smart.' The service was presided over by the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr., pastor of New Jerusalem Baptist Church, and several members of the Booth family read scriptures or excerpts from condolence letters. 'My grandfather would want us to remember him as a man of God - a man who was called to serve,' said his grandson, Paul M. Booth Jr., son of Cincinnati Councilman Paul Booth Sr. 'Your labor, Granddaddy, was not in vain. I love you, Granddaddy.' The Rev. Mr. Shuttlesworth led the people in a prayer that included a plea for peace in the city. 'Thank you for his (the Rev. Mr. Booth's) works that he did on this earth as he traveled to heaven,' said the Rev. Mr. Shuttlesworth. 'Help us understand that all men are brothers. Give peace, love and understanding to the city he loved.'

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