Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 12, 1993 TAG: 9306120243
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: ATLANTA, GA. LENGTH: Medium
OBIT HARMON, BISHOP NOLAN BAILEY
HARMON, Bishop Nolan Bailey, 100, of Atlanta, Ga., passed away June 8,
1993, in Atlanta. He was a retired elder statesman of the United Methodist
Episcopacy. He was born in Meridian, Miss., on July 14, 1892, the son, the
grandson, and great-grandson of Methodist ministers. He was educated at
Millsaps College in his native state, and at Princeton University, where he
received the Master of Arts degree in 1920. He was given a number of
appointments including Greene Memorial Methodist Church in Roanoke, from 1933
to 1940. In 1940, he was elected book editor of the reunited Methodist
Churches, and in that capacity was editor of the official documents of his
church, of the Abingdon Press, and of the learned journal, Religion in Life.
At that time he acted as general editor of The Interpreter's Bible, a 12
volume commentary which has achieved wide acclaim. Elected to the Episcopacy
in 1956, Bishop Harmon led the Western North Carolina, South Carolina,
Kentucky and North Alabama Conferences before retiring in 1964. Since his
retirement he taught every year at Emory in the Candler School of Theology
until 1991. A prolific author and editor, Bishop Harmon served on the Joint
Commission of the Methodist Hymnal in 1930-1934, and again from 1960-1964, for
which he chaired the committee on texts. He was general editor of the classic
Interpreter's Bible, and in retirement he edited the monumental Encyclopedia
of World Methodism. His many books include Ministerial Ethics and Etiquette
and his autobiography, Ninety Years and Counting, as well as The Famous Case
of Myra Clark Gaines, the story of the well-known litigant of New Orleans
during the 19th century. He was awarded honorary degrees by Millsaps College,
Duke University, Hamline University and by Western Maryland, Mt. Union and
Wofford Colleges. He also received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Emory
University in 1958, and served as a member of its Board of Trustees, and a
Trustee Emertius, of that university since 1940. Bishop Harmon and his wife,
Rebecca Lamar Harmon, who died in 1980, are survived by two sons, Nolan Bailey
Harmon III, an Atlanta attorney, and George Lamar Harmon, a retired research
manager, of Winter Park, Fla.; as well as eight grandchildren, Mark Lamar
Harmon, of Orlando, Fla., Virginia Palmer Harmon, of Tallahassee, Fla.; James
Lamar Harmon, of Dallas, Texas; Susan Harmon Hill, of Vero Beach, Fla.; Nolan
Perry Harmon, of Berkley, Calif., Elizabeth Harmon Piddock, of Boulder, Colo.;
Charles Eruch Harmon and Deborah Jean Harmon, both of Atlanta, Ga. Funeral
services will be held at the Druid Hills Methodist Church, Ponce de Leon and
Briarcliff Roads N.E., Atlanta, Ga. on Saturday, June 12 at 11 a.m., with a
burial service in Roanoke at the Evergreen Burial Park on Monday, June 14 at
11 a.m. Arrangements are being handled by Patterson's Funeral Home in Atlanta,
Ga., and by the Oakey's Funeral Home in Roanoke.
by CNB