wfn.org | Governor Wallace a long-time United Methodist

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Sept. 17, 1998	Contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.       {531}
 

By United Methodist News Service

Governor George Wallace did not exploit his long-time membership in the
United Methodist Church nor did he apologize for it, according to
retired Bishop Paul Duffey, a friend since college days.

 "We were never on the same political wave length but we were always
friends," Duffey said. 

The bishop was among several clergy participating in Wallace's funeral
at First United Methodist Church in Montgomery Sept. 17.  Although
Wallace has been a member of St. James United Methodist Church, the
funeral was held at First Church because St. James is in the midst of a
relocation and rebuilding project. Approximately 1,000 people attended
the service, some arriving hours early to get a seat.

Many United Methodists will remember that Governor Wallace was elected
as a lay delegate from Alabama to the 1968 General Conference in Dallas.
It was at that meeting that The Methodist and the Evangelical United
Brethren churches formally joined to create the United Methodist Church.
It was also at that conference that the last vestiges of the former
Methodist Central (black) Jurisdiction were eliminated.

Duffey, who headed the clergy delegation from Alabama to the conference,
said Wallace went to Dallas but stayed in a hotel some distance away and
did not attend any of the sessions.  "Because he was in running for
office he said people would think he was using the church for personal
gain if he attended," Duffey said.  

"I never remember a time when he criticized the church," the bishop
continued.  "He had his own differences and judgment but he was never
anti-church.  He treated every bishop assigned to Alabama with great
respect.  He was that way with everybody. "

Duffey said Wallace's conversion or change in attitude, particularly
toward race, came out of "more mature reflection.  I don't think he ever
hated black people in a mean, vicious sense.  He used race as political
expediency because of the time in which he lived."  

Duffey attributed Wallace's change to the death of his wife Lurleen in
1968,  his being shot in an assassination attempt in 1972, and "these
last years when he has concentrated on scripture and eternal life."

Duffey praised the governor for his willingness to apologize.  "It 's
one thing for somebody to apologize to another individual  privately
but quite another thing for a person so politically powerful and
prominent to apologize publicly and openly as he did.  I believe he
experienced genuine change."

Because of poor health, Wallace has not been able to attend church for
several years but when Duffey was pastor at First Church in Montgomery
the governor told him he listened regularly to the broadcast of his
worship service.  Duffey said he had visited Wallace "off and on through
the years."

Bishop William Morris, the first African American to serve as bishop in
the church's Alabama-West Florida Conference, participated in the
funeral service Sept. 16 and led a special service for family members
the day before.    Others who participated in the service at First
Church were the Rev. Karl Stegall, First Church pastor; the Rev. Lester
Spencer Jr., pastor at St. James; and the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of
evangelist Billy Graham.

"All of us have a stand in the schoolhouse door inside of us," observed
Spencer, who delivered the eulogy.  "All of us have sinned against God
and man.  But George Wallace had the courage to admit publicly that he
was wrong and seek forgiveness.  The legacy of George Wallace is not the
stand in the schoolhouse door.  I believe the legacy of George Wallace
is conversion to Christ and a changed heart."

Another United Methodist, Marianna-Panama City District Superintendent,
officiated at graveside services at Montgomery's Greenwood Cemetery.

Wallace served four terms as Alabama's governor: 1962, 1970, 1974, 1982.
His wife Lurleen was elected governor in 1966.  Her funeral was held at
St. James Church in 1968. Wallace made four unsuccessful runs for the
presidency: 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976.  It was during his presidential
campaign in 1972, following a rally in Laurel, Md., that he was shot by
Arthur Bremer, paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. 

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