Grady Harding Summer (LOUISVILLE, Ga.)

LOUISVILLE, Ga. - Rev. Grady Harding Summer, age 86, of West 9th Street, passed away Wednesday, August 20, 2008, at the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home after a lengthy illness. Funeral services will be held 11:00 AM Saturday, August 23, 2008, in the Louisville First Baptist Church with Rev. Tim Brown officiating. Burial will follow in the Louisville City Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Thomas Black, Lawson Cook, Jim Crawford, Ray Davis, Frank Ethridge, Donald Handberry, Donald Hartley, Mike McDowell, John Murphy, Bob Reynolds, Steve (Larry) Stanley, Ott Stephens, and Kester Williford. Honorary pallbearers will be the deacons and trustees of the Louisville First Baptist Church. Rev. Summer, son of the late Hugh Thompson Summer and Emma Bickley Summer, was born and raised in Chappells, SC, where he was educated in the Newberry County School System. Upon completion of high school, he left home to serve in the Pacific Theater during World War II for forty- four months as a medic and ward sergeant in the U.S. Army's 31st General Hospital Unit in the New Hebrides Islands. Following the war, he graduated with honors from Furman University in Greenville, SC, with a bachelor's degree in English. While attending Furman, he pastored his home church, Crossroads Baptist. Having received his undergraduate degree, he served as pastor at Coronaca Baptist Church near Greenwood, SC. He graduated from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, with a graduate degree in divinity in 1954 and then completed a second master's degree there in theology in 1955. He was a student pastor while attending the seminary at Pleasant View Baptist Church on the banks of the beautiful Ohio River in Bedford, Kentucky. Upon graduation from the seminary, he returned to South Carolina where he was called to pastor the Townville Baptist Church. While there, he also taught English at Anderson College in Anderson, SC. In 1958, he accepted a call to the Louisville First Baptist Church, where he served as pastor for twenty-eight years before retiring in 1986, after which he was named Pastor Emeritus. While at First Baptist, he led the congregation in relocating and constructing a new church building, complete with a sanctuary, new organ and pews, Sunday School facilities, offices, and fellowship hall. For ten years after retirement, he served as interim pastor for a number of churches in Jefferson, Burke, and other surrounding counties. Rev. Summer served two terms on the Georgia Baptist Executive Committee, many years on the Georgia Baptist Hospital Board, and in other various capacities of the Georgia Baptist Convention. He was Moderator of the Hephzibah Baptist Convention for two terms. He taught English and Bible in the Georgia Baptist Extension Program for two years. He was the former president of the Louisville Academy PTA and a former member of the Louisville Kiwanis Club. Rev. Summer was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Jennings Summer, and a sister, Margaret Summer. He is survived by his wife Lillie (Tibby) Nash Summer, to whom he was married for fifty-seven years; two daughters, Pamela Tison and her husband Frank, of Vidette, and Penelope (Penny) Summer, of Augusta; one granddaughter, Emily Summer Horne and her husband Richard of Bainbridge, GA; two brothers, Miller Summer of Greenwood, SC, and Brunner Summer of Chappells, SC-as well as a number of nieces and nephews and many beloved friends. The Summer family will receive friends from 6:00 to 8:00 PM Friday, August 22, 2008, at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers the family requests memorials be made to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for foreign missions at Louisville First Baptist Church, 101 East Ninth Street, Louisville, GA 30434. You may sign the online guestbook at www.taylorfhlouisville.com . Taylor Funeral Home, 401 West Eight Street, Louisville, 478-625-7761, is in charge of arrangements. Sign the guestbook at AugustaChronicle. com

The Augusta Chronicle-August 22, 2008