Reverend Robert Lawson Van Doren Jr.

1944 - 2024

THE REVEREND ROBERT LAWSON VAN DOREN, JR. (February 18, 1944 – January 19, 2024)

Memphis, TN - The Reverend Robert Lawson Van Doren, Jr., 79, beloved husband of Pamela Breland Van Doren, died peacefully on the afternoon of January 19, 2024 after a brief illness at Trezevant Manor (Allen Morgan Health and Rehabilitation) in Memphis, Tennessee.

A Requiem Eucharist will be held on January 26, 2024 at 12:00 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church, with a reception immediately following the service in the St. John's Parish Hall. Visitation will take place prior to the service beginning at 11:00 a.m. in the St. John's Parish Hall.

Born in Columbia, South Carolina on February 18, 1944, Bob was the son of the late Robert Lawson Van Doren and Elizabeth Dacus Gaines Van Doren. In his youth, he was active in the Boy Scouts of America. He was educated in the Columbia public schools and was in the first graduating class of A.C. Flora High School in 1962, where he served as President of the Student Body. His lifelong Christian faith was centered by his active membership at Trinity Episcopal Church (now Cathedral) in Columbia during his youth. He graduated in 1966 with a BA degree in History from The University of the South, in Sewanee, TN, where he was a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Following graduation, he entered a career in the banking industry in Charlotte, High Point, and Greensboro, North Carolina and Kingsport, Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee with various banks. That career endured for 38 years, until his retirement from Regions Bank in Memphis in 2004. During his banking years, he completed the Carolina School of Banking at Chapel Hill, NC, the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University, and the executive development program at the University of Tennessee. He was active in various community service organizations in North Carolina and Tennessee, including the Rotary Club of Memphis. He was a long-time communicant of St. John's Episcopal Church, Memphis.

In 2000, prior to his retirement from banking, Bob was ordained a Deacon in the Episcopal Church and began his official ministry at St. John's Episcopal Church. Thereafter, in May 2004, he was ordained by the Bishop of West Tennessee as Priest in Christ's One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and he served St. John's, where he was affectionately known as "Father Bob" for 16 years as its Associate Rector until his retirement in January, 2020. Much of his time with St. John's was devoted to pastoral care, and he supported many parishioners and their families in that role for many years. He received his Master of Divinity from Methodist Theological Seminary in Memphis in 2007. In addition to his commitment and devotion to the Church, his parish and its parishioners, he had a great passion for the worship life of the Church and had a lifelong love of music. He was an active member of the Memphis Chamber Choir for 20 years and a founding member of the St. John's Chant Choir. Being immersed in church music was a strong part of his calling to serve the Church.

Outside of the Church, Bob had a passion for travel. He and Pam enjoyed frequent international trips as well as returning annually to Columbia, South Carolina to visit with family and friends and to visit his beloved Pawleys Island and Litchfield Beach. On more than one occasion, he was known to return to Memphis with a suitcase full of boiled peanuts and frozen raw South Carolina shrimp packed in between insulating pages of newspaper for the trip, together with crossed fingers that his bag wouldn't get lost on the trip home.

Bob is survived by his wife of 16 years, Pamela Breland Van Doren, his daughter and son-in-law, Melissa Lee Van Doren Vaughn and Kelly Vaughn and their daughters, Brianna, Taylor, Madison and Abigail, of Arlington, TN; his stepson, Gil Uhlhorn and his wife, Kathy Gale, and their sons Garner and Worrick, of Memphis, TN; and his stepdaughter, Emily Lombardo, and her daughters, Sara Kate, Emma and Caroline of Trussville, AL. He is also survived by his sister, Elizabeth Van Doren Gray, of Columbia, SC, and her children, Dr. J. Cranston Gray, III and his wife, Leigh Ellen of Greenville, SC, and Elizabeth Gray Dimon, and her husband Stephen, of Paris, France. He is also survived by three great-nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, and his first wife, Lee Mann Van Doren.

Memorials may be made to St. John's Episcopal Church at 3245 Central Avenue, Memphis, TN 38111, or a charity of the donor's choice.