Obituary: Louis Palmer McCown

Louis Palmer McCown, longtime collegiate minister and later minister to senior adults, died Dec. 25 in Midland. He was 83.

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Louis Palmer McCown, longtime collegiate minister and later minister to senior adults, died Dec. 25 in Midland. He was 83. He was born in Hillsboro to Erma LaVerne and Walter Hooper McCown on March 16, 1939. After his graduation from Littlefield High School, he went to Hardin-Simmons University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Bible and history. While in college, he was pastor of a church in Guthrie. He later earned a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He married Patricia Jean Jones on June 2, 1961, in Dallas. McCown worked as a Baptist Student Union director for the Baptist General Convention of Texas at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, South Plains College in Levelland, the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor in Belton and Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene. During a four-year hiatus from college ministry in the early 1970s, he was minister of youth and adult education at Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va. After retiring from student work in 2001, he served as interim music minister and pastor for various churches in the Abilene area. In 2006, he became minister to senior adults at First Baptist Church in Abilene, where he served until his second retirement in 2016. For more than 40 years, McCown sang in the choir at First Baptist Church in Abilene, and he was part of the church’s men’s ensemble. In retirement, he enjoyed singing with the Celebration Singers civic group. He served on the board of development at Hardin-Simmons University and, at one point, was president of the Texas Baptist Student Summer Missions Committee. Palmer was named a distinguished alumnus by Logsdon School of Theology at HSU and received the Altom Christian Service Award from HSU. He is survived by his wife of 61 and a half years Patsy McCown; daughter Stephanie Markgraf and husband Jim; son Michael McCown and wife Barb; two grandsons;  and sister Sue Thomas. Memorial gifts can be made to Texas Baptist Student Missions or to the music ministry at First Baptist Church in Abilene.


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