[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23542]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO REVEREND LAVAUGHN VENCHAEL BOOTH

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ROB PORTMAN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 22, 2002

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and 
accomplishments of Reverend Lavaughn Venchael Booth, a distinguished 
friend and champion of faith and justice from Cincinnati, who passed 
away on November 17.
  Born on January 7, 1919 in Covington County, Mississippi, Reverend 
Booth received a bachelor's degree in American history from Alcorn A&M 
College; a bachelor's degree in divinity from Howard University; and a 
master's degree in church history from the University of Chicago 
Divinity School. He began his ministry with First Baptist Church of 
Warrenton, Virginia and continued his ministry with First Baptist 
Church of Gary, Indiana. He pastored Zion Baptist Church in the 
Avondale area of Cincinnati for 32 years before founding the Olivet 
Baptist Church in Silverton. Last year, he came out of retirement to 
pastor the Church upon the Rock in Anderson, Indiana.
  In 1961, Reverend Booth founded the Progressive National Baptist 
Convention (PNBC). The PNBC became the household of Rev. Dr. Martin 
Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement among African-American 
Baptists. As Dr. Lewis V. Baldwin noted, ``King, while siding with 
progressives, had no active role with the organization of the PNBC.'' 
Dr. King at his last meeting with the PNBC in 1967 in Cincinnati 
emphasized according to convention minutes ``that he is a member of the 
PNBC. He has come to speak not as a civil rights leader, but as a 
minister of the gospel.'' The PNBC split from the National Baptist 
Convention and formed a denomination that played an active role in the 
civil rights movement by joining with the Southern Christian Leadership 
Conference and provided Dr. King with a national platform. Reverend 
Booth served as its president from 1971-1974. Progressives today have 
2.5 million members in 1,800 churches nationwide.
  But Reverend Booth's focus was his local ministry, and he said, ``We 
should have concern for the physical, as well as the spiritual well-
being of people.'' He initiated economic development projects, secured 
the credit to build hundreds of low-income housing units and a church-
run nursing home, and later established the region's first black-owned 
bank. Described as a visionary who dedicated his life to the Lord, he 
was driven to do for others, trying to make the world and his community 
a better place to live.
  Reverend Booth's civil and community activities are legendary. He was 
the first African-American member of the University of Cincinnati Board 
of Trustees. He was a founding member of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
Center for Nonviolent Social Change, served on the board of the 
Cincinnati City Gospel Mission and as vice president of the Gospel 
World Alliance. He helped to establish the Marva Collins Preparatory 
School in Cincinnati; the Cincinnati Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast, a 
service that offered prayers for newly-elected public servants; and the 
National Prayer League.
  Reverend Booth is survived by his sons, Paul Booth of Cincinnati, who 
is a member of the Cincinnati City Council; Lavaughn Booth Jr. of 
Chicago; and Rev. Dr. William Booth of Hampton, Virginia; and daughters 
Anna-Marie Booth of San Francisco, and Dr. Georgia Leeper of Memphis. 
He is also survived by 14 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. We 
are blessed by his life and having known him.

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