| WILLARD BAXTER Willard Baxter, Jr., age 71 of 3738 Anglin Drive, Gainesville, GA 30507 passed away at home Monday June 28, 2004. Mr. Baxter was the son of the late Ellis Willard Baxter Sr., and Thelma Stevens Baxter. Funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m. Thursday July 1, 2004 at Lakewood Baptist Church with burial to follow in Memorial Park Cemetery. Dr. Tom Smiley, Sheriff Steve Cronic, Rev. Bob Baxter and Rev. Don Ormsbee will officiate. The family will receive friends on Wednesday June 30, 2004 from 2-4 and 7-9 pm at the Memorial Park Funeral Home, Gainesville, GA. Rev. Baxter was born in Harralson County, Georgia but made his home in Hall County. Mr. Baxter was ordained a Baptist Minister at the age of 19. Rev. Baxter graduated from Mercer University, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, North Carolina Baptist Hospital School of Pastoral Care, and was Assistant Administrator at the Georgia Baptist Children's Home. He also graduated from the FBI National Academy after which he served for 17 years as bi-vocational Pastor and Law Enforcement Officer in Gwinnett and Hall Counties. Among the churches he served as pastor include, Belmont Baptist Church, Gainesville, GA and Bethel Baptist Church, Bethlehem, GA, and Pastor and Pastor Emeritus at Lakewood Baptist Church Gainesville, GA. He was a master woodturner and held a host of Baptist affiliated denominational positions. He was a member of Johnnie's Hill Masonic Lodge. Survivors include his wife of 48 years, Sarah Holcombe Baxter, Gainesville; daughters, LouAnne Baxter, Sandy Springs; Mary Elizabeth Baxter, Gainesville; brother-in-law, David Holcombe, Douglasville; nephew, Jeff Holcombe, Aurora, CO; niece and great-niece, Julie and Madeline Grace Cromie, Winston, GA; and numerous cousins. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Lakewood Baptist Church Building Fund, 2235 Thompson Bridge Road, Gainesville, GA 30506 or Johnnie's Hill Masonic Lodge, Mountain Creek Church Road, Pendergrass, GA. 30567 |