Former Southern Baptist missionary Harris dies at 64
Marlin Jefferson Harris, a former Southern Baptist missionary, died May 18. He was 64.
Harris served in Bangladesh in the mid 1970s in the two-year Journeyman program through the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board).
In 1987, Harris and his wife, Jean, were appointed to serve in Asunción, Paraguay, at the Baptist Medical Center. After 11 years the hospital was completely organized and self-sustaining so the Harris family returned to Alabama, where he later started a foundation to support the hospital from the United States.
He also taught and served as chair of the language department at Prattville High School, where he led the Spanish Club and founded the Junior Civitan Club. Harris also was an active member of Wadsworth Baptist Church, Deatsville. In his later years he wrote two books and wrote and produced music.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Samford University in Birmingham and a master’s degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed a residency qualification at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo and also completed courses at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
Harris is survived by his wife of almost 32 years, three children and three grandchildren. (Hannah Muñoz)
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