A well-known Baptist minister in western Kentucky passed away Sunday at the Rivers Bend Retirement Community in Kuttawa.
Goodwin Funeral Home reports 98-year Reverend Norman Ellis began his over 50-year career of preaching at the age of 17, delivering his first sermon on February 13, 1938, at First Baptist Church in Maiden, North Carolina.
After graduating Mars Hill Junior College and Wake Forest College, Ellis was inducted into the Army in South Carolina in May 1943. He trained as a surgical technician and served at eye, ear, nose, and throat clinics in Oklahoma and Arkansas before he was discharged on March 27, 1946.
After being discharged, he entered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and served as pastor to Bethlehem Baptist Church until late 1949, after graduating the seminary.
Ellis began serving as pastor to churches in the region at Golden Pond Baptist in December 1948 and at Canton Baptist in May 1949. He served both churches concurrently for almost four years, before adding Oak Grove Baptist to his list in 1952, where he served at all three churches for around a year.
His longest tenure was at Cadiz Baptist Church beginning August 1956 and served there for more than twelve years. After leaving Cadiz Baptist Church, he went on to be a pastor at churches in Jackson, Tennessee and Grand Rivers before semi-retiring in 1982.
He wouldn’t fully retire until March of 2000 after serving as interim pastor at twelve churches in Ballard, Caldwell, McCracken, and Trigg counties and serving at Wallonia Baptist Church for almost six years.
Obituary for 98-year old Reverend Norman Ellis
