THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9601310143
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SHIRLEY BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER SUFFOLK
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
THE REV. DR. MELVIN R. BOONE is a man with vision and a plan for action.
Bolstered by a strong faith and a commitment to helping those less fortunate, Boone has been a driving force for change in the community.
In addition to pastoring Metropolitan Baptist Church on County Street, Boone, 63, is director of planning and development of Virginia Seminary and College in Lynchburg.
He makes monthly, one-day trips to work there, but Boone routinely handles related duties from his Suffolk office.
Under the leadership of Boone, an alumnus who served as the school's 14th president, the institution has survived a decline in financial support and enrollment. Today, there are 48 enrolled in the school in Lynchburg, and 45 attend a satellite branch at Pleasant Union Baptist Church in Suffolk.
``We revived the institution through donations,'' he said.
Recently, Boone was elected to another post that will increase his travel, the board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in Washington, D.C.
He'll help make decisions on grants to restore historic sites. ``I would like to preserve the old Suffolk High School,'' he said. ``I'm looking forward to traveling to many areas and sites throughout the United States.''
Preserving historic buildings has long been one of his interests.
Before coming to Virginia from Raleigh, N.C., Boone pastored and rebuilt the city's oldest church attended by African-Americans, the Tupper Memorial Baptist Church. This church was where Dr. Henry Martin Tupper, the founder of Shaw University, taught his first classes.
Recently, Boone was a leader in the restoration of the old East Suffolk School, known today as the East Suffolk Community Center. He is president of the board of Action Inc., which provides educational programs and social events for area residents.
A native of Corapeake, N.C., Boone was the seventh son born into a farm family of 13 children.
Boone had a close relationship with his mother, Queen Boone, who lived to be 90. Throughout his youth, she encouraged him to go into the ministry.
``She instilled in all of us the principles of Christ,'' he said. ``She was not educated, but she knew the Lord. She said, `Everything that you put your hand, mind and heart into, you are going to be successful.' ''
As a child, Boone accompanied his blind grandfather to church services and began to feel a pull toward the ministry. At 17, working as an ``ice boy'' at a Portsmouth restaurant, he felt a definite calling, ``a power.''
After graduation from T.S. Cooper High School in Sunbury, N.C., Boone completed studies at the Virginia Seminary and College. After seven years as pastor of Tupper Memorial Baptist Church, he transferred to First Baptist Church in Virginia Beach. Eight years later, Boone moved to Suffolk to become pastor of Metropolitan Baptist, where he has remained for the past 30 years. He succeeded his father-in-law.
``My ministry has been most rewarding,'' he said. ``The emphasis is not within the walls of a church. It's outside.''
Boone said that the discovery one morning several years ago of an elderly man, who had sought refuge in a car during an ice storm, was the catalyst for Glendale Home for the Aged on East Washington Street.
``The man was frozen, and I asked him to come into the church,'' he said. ``He later joined our church, and I baptized him. Out of that experience came Glendale. There are 25 people there now. The residents can do for themselves but need some help. . . .''
Both Boone and his wife, who have no children, have experienced serious illnesses in the past few years. He had open heart surgery, and she suffered both a heart attack and stroke while undergoing disc surgery.
Still energetic, however, Boone enjoys raising houseplants, fruit trees and vegetables.
``I have not decided on retirement,'' Boone said. ``I will preach as long as I can. In 30 years, I've probably married over 1,000 people and buried a whole congregation with the exception of 50 members. Now, there is a new generation.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
The Rev. Melvin R. Boone is pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church on
County Street.
by CNB