Rev. Twila Laverne Hargrove Payne

Twila Laverne Hargrove Payne was born on November 30, 1949, in Columbus, Mississippi to Isaac Hargrove and Mary Evelyn Parks. Her parents also had her older brother Isaac Hargrove, who is deceased.

Twila's parents divorced when she was very young. However, her mother met Taylor Jackson, who she considered as her own father and affectionately called him "Daddy TC". To this union, Mary and Taylor would welcome two daughters, Daphne and Kimberly.

In the early 1950's, Taylor migrated the family from Mississippi to a neighborhood in Miami that was created for black veterans of WWII to be able to purchase a home. This neighborhood is known as Richmond Heights. The family initially were members at Bethel Baptist Church and eventually moved to Second Baptist upon its founding. Twila attended primary school at Frank C. Martin and spent most of her secondary education at what was then Mays Senior High School. In an effort for Miami-Dade to continue to desegregate schools, Twila finished her last year of high school at Miami Palmetto Senior High. She graduated in 1967.

Twila grew up around positive black role models who expected her to graduate high school and either get a job, join the military, or go to college. Upon graduation, she decided to join her older brother and ventured to Washington D.C. to attend, "The Real HU", Howard University. She received her bachelor's degree in social work in 1971. She decided to continue her education and earned a Juris Doctor degree. Twila graduated from Howard's Law School in 1974.

Twila admired the work of Patricia Roberts Harris, dean of Howard's Law School, and Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights advocate from Mississippi and wanted to make an impact like they had done. So, after law school, she interned with Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office before being hired by Community Lawyers, Inc. in Miami. She worked as a community lawyer until she secured employment with NASA at the Kennedy Space Center. She was the first black attorney to be employed by NASA in its Kennedy Space Center location. Here she advised and litigated matters related to procurement, contract performance, and disputes.

She met Leon Blossom, her first husband, at NASA and from their union her only daughter was born, Twila "Aisha" Blossom Jones.

In 1978, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia where she began a nine-year career as the first black attorney in the South Atlantic Division of the Army Corps of Engineers. While there she handled government contracts and litigation in construction, employment law, bid protests, and procurement matters. She earned an LL.M (Master of Laws) in litigation from Emory University in 1988.

Twila moved back to Miami in 1988 and established a solo practice handling family and dependency law matters, before returning to criminal defense litigation at the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office. She later resumed her work in employment law litigation and procurement as Senior Assistant School Board Attorney for Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

She eventually met her husband, Harold Raymond Payne, and they married on June 30, 1990. To that marriage she had two sons, Harold Raymond Payne II and Jeremiah Taylor Payne.

Even as she was continuing her promising law career, in 2001, she answered the call to ministry and became an ordained minister at Second Baptist Church. She solidified this decision by receiving her Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. She served as the Director of Christian Education and Church Governance at Second Baptist Church.

While serving at Second Baptist Church, she was instrumental in launching the SBC CDC (Community Development Corporation), which allowed the youth of Richmond Heights to have enriching afterschool programs and summer camps. She instituted GROW groups, to create community amongst the members of the church and to foster spiritual and biblical growth. Along with her sister Kimberly, she coordinated Easter plays and Christmas cantatas to bring entertainment to the community while highlighting and worshiping Jesus. Her purpose and motivation for everything she did and ALL the lives she touched was to glorify Jesus Christ and make an impact for the Kingdom of God.

Twila believed that her skills as a lawyer enabled her to do ministry in practical ways to meet the needs of people, to encourage Christians to live the tenets of faith in everyday life, and to teach the simple truths of scripture with clarity.

Twila transitioned to her eternal home on November 15, 2025, at 3am. She leaves behind her husband of 35 years, one daughter, two sons, two daughters-in-law and one son-in-law, 6 beautiful grandchildren, with the most recent two born in the last two months, whom she was able to meet before transitioning. She also leaves behind her 99-year-old mother, and a host of loving aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, friends and a host of spiritual brothers and friends.

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