Walter James Moorhead

Walter James Moorhead, aged 88, died Wednesday, April 5th, 2017 in his home in Garner, North Carolina after courageously battling Alzheimers disease. He spent his life adoring his wife of 62 years, Emma Rae Northern Moorhead. He loved his three daughters and their husbands: Jama and David Mosher, Cindy and David DeFoor, and Dayle and Greg Stewart. His sisters, whom he cherished, are Mary Elizabeth Reavis, Ann Hawkins, Jean Miller, and Edith Satterfield. He also doted on his seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren (with two more on the way). All of his family is celebrating and grateful for his remarkable legacy. Jim was born and raised in Blacksburg, South Carolina. He graduated from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina and earned his Doctorate in New Testament from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He pastored Glencoe Baptist Church in Kentucky and then was appointed, with his wife Rae, by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board to serve in the Philippines in 1962. He taught at the Mindanao Bible School in Davao City and then in 1968 became a Translation Coordinator with the United Bible Societies, working throughout Southeast Asia. In 1981, he was reappointed by the Foreign Mission Board to teach New Testament at the Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary and the Asian Baptist Graduate Theological Seminary in Baguio City. He retired to Crossville, Tennessee in 1994. Jim wanted everyone to have access to and an understanding of the Gospel, and he shared the Good News of God’s love as he engaged in translation work, as he taught, and in the way he lived his life. The mischievous sparkle in his eye and his contagious sense of humor were magnetic. Jim’s belly often shook with laughter from a shared joke with friends and even at his own jokes. He often led his family in a dinner prayer, thanking God for “the life that we live and the love that we share.” His family celebrates the life that he lived and the love that he shared with us, and marvel at what it must be like for him now to have left the dense fog of dementia for the clear understanding of knowing as we are known. A service celebrating his life will be held at Memorial Baptist Church in Crossville, TN at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 15, 2017. Those who wish may honor his memory by contributing to the Moorhead Endowment for Academic Dean, Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary (checks may be sent to Memorial Baptist Church, PO Box 39, Crossville, TN 38557) or to Transitions Lifecare, 250 Hospice Circle, Raleigh, NC 27607.