Golden, Howard

Longtime Alabama pastor, educator dies

Howard Golden, a longtime Alabama Baptist pastor and educator, died March 5, one day before his 94th birthday.

Golden served as pastor of several Alabama Baptist churches in Decatur, Rockford, East Tallassee, Talladega, Calera, Phenix City and Lincoln as well as a church in Indiana. Following his retirement, he served churches as an interim pastor. He also served on several committees for the Alabama Baptist State Convention and was a trustee at Judson College in Marion.

Golden also taught in the Samford Extension Program, now the Ministry Training Institute, for almost 60 years where he taught certificate-level courses to inmates at state and federal prisons before retiring in 2014. The Birmingham university named him their Minister of the Year in 1996 and he and his wife, Johnnie, established the Howard and Johnnie Golden Scholarship fund for Christian Ministry Preparation at Samford University.

He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1946 before earning degrees from Howard College (now Samford University) and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Golden was a member of Hillside Baptist Church, Wetumpka, where he taught Sunday School. He is survived by his wife of 69 years and their three children, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. (Hannah Muñoz)