William Cooke Boone
Kentucky Baptist Leader
By Leo T. CrismonWilliam Cooke Boone was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on February 8, 1892; died at Jackson, Tennessee, on July 9, 1970. Son of Arthur Upshaw Boone and Eddie Belle Cooke and descendent from Samuel Boone (1728-1816), he represented the fifth generation from Squire Boone II (1744-1815), pioneer Kentucky Baptist preacher, from whom every generation of Kentucky Boones has had at least one Baptist preacher.
W. C. Boone was educated at William Jewell College (A.B., 1912; A.M., 1913); at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1912-1914) and at Columbia University (summer of 1923). Georgetown College conferred the D.D. Degree on him in 1928.
He felt the call to the ministry in February, 1912, while a student in William Jewell College. He was ordained at Memphis, Tennessee, on March 24, 1914.
Pastorates were First Baptist Church, Hernando, Mississippi (1914-1916); Marianna, Arkansas (1917-1918); First Baptist Churoh, Owensboro, Kentuoky (1918-1927); First Baptist Church, Roanoke, Virginia (1927-1930).
From 1930 to 1932 he served as President of Oklahoma Baptist University. Returning to the pastorate he served the First Baptist Church, Jackson, Tennessee (1932-1940), and Crescent Hill Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky (1940-1945).
He became exeoutive secretary of the Executive Board of the General Association of Baptists in Kentucky (now Kentucky Baptist Convention) on January 1, 1946. He served ably in this position until his retirement in the summer of 1961, moving t[h]en to Jackson, Tennessee, where he organized the Woodland Baptist Church (1965) and served as its pastor through 1967.
He published two books: WHAT GOD HATH JOINED TOGETHER, Nashville, 1935; and WHAT WE BELIEVE, Nashville, 1936. He conducted tours through Europe and the Near East from 1925 until after his retirement.
W. C. Boone married Ruth Trotter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. I. P. Trotter, on September 1, 1915. Children are: Mrs. Ruth Fusselle, Grenada, Mississippi; Mrs. Martha Foust, Jackson, Tennessee; Mrs. Nan Arendall, Mobile, Alabama; A. U. Boone II, Austin, Texas; and W. C. Boone, Jr., Louisville, Kentucky.
=================== [From Leo T. Crismon, editor, The Kentucky Baptist Newsletter of the Kentucky Baptist Historical Society, volume I, No. 1, January 15, 1971; via Southern Baptist Seminary Archives, Adam Winters, Archivist, Internet edition. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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