Former pastor, chaplain dies at 101
John Bolton, a former Alabama Baptist pastor, died Dec. 22, 2017. He was 101.
Born in 1916 near Evergreen, he graduated from Lyeffion high school, worked for the railroad and later joined the Army. At age 31, while a member of First Baptist Church, Evergreen, he felt the call to full-time ministry.
Bolton studied at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and at Howard College (now Samford University). He served part-time at churches in South Alabama while completing his education. Many of these were in Conecuh Baptist Association and included Bermuda Baptist Church, Repton; Holly Grove Baptist Church, Evergreen; Castleberry Baptist Church; London Baptist Church, Castleberry; and Old Town Baptist Church, Evergreen.
He was later full-time pastor of Siluria Baptist Church, Alabaster, and Crescent Heights Baptist Church, Lipscomb.
Bolton also taught extension courses through Howard College and the seminary. He and his family moved away from Alabama in 1959 to serve churches in Tennessee and Georgia. Later, he served as director of missions in Tennessee’s Salem and Lawrence County Baptist associations.
He retired in 1981 but served for 20 more years as a chaplain. In 2002 he and his wife, Nellie, moved to Birmingham and became active members of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church. Both served as Sunday School teachers.
Bolton is survived by three children, eight grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. (TAB)
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