Bro. Clarence Walker, pastor emeritus of Ashland Avenue Baptist Church and founder of Lexington Baptist College, went home to be with his Lord on Sunday morning, August 11, at about 11:25 A. M. while, services were being conducted in his church. Bro. Walker had been in the Teresa Ann Nursing Home for the past ten months and had been in rapidly declining health in the last few weeks. As word came to us, in the services, all our hearts were saddened by the news but on the other hand we rejoiced that the Lord had taken him out of his suffering, and we knew now that he was with his beloved wife, Glo, who had been with her Lord since December 30, 1967.

Bro. Walker was born in Trimble County, Tennessee, May 29, 1890. His family moved to Louisville while he was still a young boy. He was converted at the age of eleven in the Ormsby Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, where he became church clerk at the age of 13. Feeling the call into the ministry, he went to William Jewell College, where he was licensed to preach in 1909 and was ordained in the Ormsby Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1909 at the age of nineteen. His first pastorate was at Shiloh and Kiddville Baptist Churches near Corinth, Kentucky. Then he was led to the Redhouse and Newby Baptist Churches in Madison County. While pastoring these churches he was at Georgetown College. In June, 1911, he was called to the Mt. Freedom Baptist Church in Wilmore, where he served 4 1/2 vears. It was while he was pastor at Wilmore that he fell in love with the young lady who played the organ, Glorenna Bush, who shortly thereafter became his faitful and devoted helpmeet for over fifty years.

On the first Sunday of November, 1916, he accepted the call to become pastor of the newly organized Ashland Avenue Baptist Church of Lexington, Kentucky. When he came to Ashand Avenue, which had been a mission of the First Baptist Church, there were just forty-four members. Under his powerful ministry and leadership the church grew to be one of God’s mightiest lighthouses.

Bro. Walker was known far and wide for his strong convictions and his dedicated stand for the truth of God’s word and for his spirit of evangelism. In his early ministry he began holding tent meetings which God blessed in a mighty way in the salvation of multitudes of souls. He also began a publication ministry which has spread around the world, not only through, the little paper, the Ashland Avenue Baptist, but also in other tracts and booklets which he wrote.

Bro. Walker was noted for his expository preaching of the word of God, and not only was a great evangelist but was called upon to preach in many Bible conferences. He also conducted a radio program for over thirty years which reached into the homes and lives of multitudes of people. He was loved and respected by the thousands whom he had reached and touched with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

On the first Sunday of November, 1966, he resigned as pastor of Ashland Avenue after fifty glorious years. Since his retirement his advice and counsel was still sought and respected. He will be greatly missed not only by the church that he served so faithfully but by the others who knew him and loved him. The work of Ashland Avenue Baptist Church and Lexington Baptist College will continue to speak for him and for the Lord Whom he loved until the end of time.

Survivors of Bro. Walker include his three daughters, Mrs. S. J. Stokes, Jr., Mrs. W. K. Johnson, and Mrs. Charles B. Gentry, all of Lexington; four sisters, Mrs. Howard Davis and Mrs. Paul Brown, both of Lexington; Mrs. Fred Ollesch and Mrs. Donald Patterson, of Louisville; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

[AAB paper, September 6, 1968, pp. 1 & 3.]