Howard M. Reaves, Southern Baptist leader and pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church, Mobile, died April 24. He was 97.
A native of Statesville, N.C., Reaves served as pastor of churches in Kentucky and South Carolina, before coming to Alabama in 1945. He was pastor of First Baptist, Mobile, until his retirement in 1971.
A graduate of Furman University, the University of North Carolina, Yale University Divinity School and Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ky., Reaves held a number of leadership positions in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), including president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. He was a trustee of Southern Seminary, president of what is now LifeWay Christian Resources and vice-chairman of the SBC Executive Committee.
Reaves was on the 1963 committee that revised The Baptist Faith and Message and was a member of the steering committee that led to the founding of Mobile College, now the University of Mobile.
He is survived by his wife, Kathleen, three sons, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. (TAB)
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