|
Beverly Jo Sawyer
June 24, 1952 - Jan. 5, 1990
NLRHS Class of 1970
Rev. Beverly J. Sawyer, 37, of Hot Springs, Arkansas, died from injuries sustained in a car crash January 5, 1990.
Rev. Sawyer, associate pastor at First United Methodist Church in Hot Springs, was associate dean of life at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas from 1984 to 1988. She also was a member of the board of the Arthritis Foundation in Dallas and of the Board of Ordained Ministers. She was a former associate pastor at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock, at Lakeside Methodist in Pine Bluff, and at Hunter Methodist in Mount Pleasant. She received a master's of divinity degree from Perkins, and a bachelor's degree from Baylor University.
Survivors are her parents, James F. and Emma Lee Sawyer of North Little Rock.
Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock. A memorial service will be at 4 p.m. Tuesday at First United Methodist Church in Hot Springs. Burial will be in Edgewood Cemetery in North Little Rock by Roller-Drummond Funeral Home.
|
Thomas Milton Carpenter
Beverly was one in a million. She went to college and decided to enter the ministry. She became a United Methodist minister instead of a Baptist preacher. She had an unusual way to reach into people's lives. Her morning prayers at church were published because they were so memorable, and people in the congregation always loved it when she had a new one; it was truly poetry. She suffered a terrible accident a few years before she died, and was left in traction for months. But, she came back strong and was moving forward with her ministry when she had the automobile accident that took her life. Pulaski Heights UMC was filled on the day of her funeral with a good portion of the congregation, and dozens of ministers from across the state. The closing hymn included the words, "Here I am, Lord; Is it I, Lord, I can hear you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me; I will hold your people in my heart." I hope she still does.