Obituary: James Jay Bobo

James Jay Bobo, former Southern Baptist foreign missionary to Asia, died Jan. 15 in Fort Worth of COVID-19. He was 78.

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James Jay Bobo, former Southern Baptist foreign missionary to Asia, died Jan. 15 in Fort Worth of COVID-19. He was 78. He was born Aug. 18, 1942, and spent his formative years at Sagamore Hill Baptist Church in Fort Worth, where he was involved in youth and adult choirs. He was a graduate of Texas Wesleyan University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was appointed as a Southern Baptist Journeyman in 1967 to Da Nang, Vietnam, where he lived through the Tet Offensive and endured nightly bombings while ministering to those whose lives were shattered by war. He returned to the United States, where he met and married Linda Stansberry in 1973. Together, they lived and worked as Southern Baptist missionaries in Da Lat, Vietnam, before being forced to evacuate immediately prior to the fall of Saigon. They were reassigned to Hong Kong, and he became fluent in Cantonese and opened multiple Christian bookstores in Hong Kong and Macau. He and Linda had two children, Robert and Rhandi, whom they raised in Hong Kong and then Tokyo, Japan, before returning to the United States. His career also included teaching, church planting, managing a retirement community and working in the insurance business. He was preceded in death by his mother, Marie S. Green; stepfather, Smith L. Green; and father, Dee Bobo. He is survived by his wife, Linda, children, Robert Preston Bobo and Rhandi Lin Bobo; adopted family member, Betty Hueng Lee; and a brother, John Bobo.


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