Rev. Meredith King Roberson

A service of celebration for the life of The Rev. Meredith King Roberson will be held on Thursday, August 12, at 11 a.m. at Ridge Baptist Church. Roberson died Monday, August 9, 2004, at Lakewood Manor Baptist Retirement Community. A native of Kenbridge, he attended Mars Hill College in North Carolina, the University of Richmond, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. While at the University of Richmond, he pastored Main Street Baptist Church in Petersburg, where he met his future wife, Ruby Burton Lawrence. When the church extended him a call to be pastor, she cast the only vote against him because she felt the church pastor should be a married man. They were married while he was a seminary student and began their life as pastor and wife at a field of churches that included High Hills Baptist Church in Jarratt, Virginia. In 1950 he accepted a call to Ridge Baptist Church in Richmond, where he served for 30 years. In 1980 he retired from the pastoral ministry and became director of development for Virginia Baptist Homes, Inc. and later president. The benevolent ministry of the homes, in Culpeper, Newport News, and Richmond, and the expansion of its life care ministry for senior citizens became his passion. With his wife as his driver, he set out to take the story of Virginia Baptist Homes into the Baptist churches of Virginia. At the conclusion of his 12-year tenure, staff, trustees, residents, Virginia Baptists, and friends of the denomination had responded with contributions of more than $15 million for the benevolent ministry of Virginia Baptist Homes. Through the years, he served his denomination through the Dover Association, the General Association of Virginia, and the Foreign Mission Board. He served his Lord with unfailing faithfulness, his church and his denomination with distinction, and he gave to his family a full measure of his love and devotion. In 2002 he was preceded in death by his wife of 57 years. He is survived by a daughter Kay Roberson Horner of Lexington, Va.; a son, Lawrence M. Roberson of Richmond; two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. One of eight children, he is also survived by four brothers, James C. Roberson of Fredericksburg, Henry D. Roberson of Delray Beach, Fla., Wesley G. Roberson of Huntingdon, Tenn. and Eugene G. Roberson of Fall River, Mass. The family will receive friends at Bennett Funeral Home Chapel on 11020 W. Broad Street on Wednesday, August 11, from 7 to 9 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Benevolent Ministry of Lakewood Manor Baptist Retirement Community.