Ray Clevenger, a retired pastor and former hospice and prison ministry volunteer, died Sept. 25. He was 83.
Clevenger was a U.S. Navy veteran and worked for 30 years as a lead mechanic for Delta Airlines before retiring from the company in 1993. He and his wife, Esther, dedicated their retirement to the Lord — Clevenger, a longtime deacon, had felt God calling him to preach the previous year.
After moving to Alabama to be near family, he was called to serve as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Heflin. During his pastorate, he was active with the Cleburne Baptist Association and Carpenters for Christ, working on many churches across the southeast.
Following his ministry at Calvary, he served as a volunteer chaplain for Regional Medical Center and New Beacon Hospice for decades. Through the Cleburne Baptist Association, he became the official chaplain to the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Department and Cleburne County Jail from 2007 to 2015. The Clevengers and other volunteers held a weekly worship service on Sunday morning and Bible studies on Mondays and Wednesdays. They baptized 149 inmates during that ministry.
He was a member of Edwardsville Baptist Church.
In a May 2000 article about his hospice work, Clevenger said, “I don’t look at death as a tragedy. I really look at death as the beginning of life.”
Clevenger is survived by his wife; daughters, Vickey and Loy; son, Allen; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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