In tribute: Church founder led by example

W. Charles Green wasn’t a boisterous man by any means. But friends and family members said the example he led spoke volumes.

“He always had a prayer for everyone,” son Wendell Green said. “He told me when you see ladies, always tip your hat. Wear certain clothing, talk a certain way, have a certain posture.

“He always put God first.”

Green, who founded Clovis’ First Church of God and Christ in 1957 and pastored it over the next six decades, died Friday in his home.

He was 85.

Selmus Price remembered the exact day they met because Green was one of his first memories of the place he still calls home.

“April 1, 1963; that was the day I came to Clovis,” Price said. “It was on a Sunday morning. The first place I went was to First Church of God in Christ, where he was pastoring.

“He was just an outstanding individual. Very caring, any positive thing you could think of.”

Green was born Sept. 14, 1930, in Prairie Hill, Texas, and came to Clovis in 1942 when his parents got jobs at the Wicks poultry farm. He, along with cousins Leroy Green and Rosalie Green, were likely the first black children who rode on Clovis school buses.

“One afternoon, as we walked home, I asked the bus driver if I could ride,” Green said in a 2007 Clovis News Journal article, “and he asked Mr. James Bickley, the superintendent, if we could, and he had no problem.”

Green went on to attend Eastern New Mexico University for undergraduate studies, then went to Charles Harrison Mason Theologian Seminary in Atlanta and Christian College in Jacksonville, Florida for his Ph.D.

A short list of organizations Green was involved include the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Clovis Noon Day Lions Club, the Clovis chapter of the NAACP, the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce and Clovis Community College — as part of the campus board when it was ENMU-Clovis and on the foundation board when it became an independent community college.

Green also served as chaplain for Plains Regional Medical Center and the Clovis Police Department.

On the few occasions Green had time, nephew David Dawson said, he enjoyed fishing before his health limited him over the last 10 or so years.

When asked about the biggest impact his uncle had, Dawson said, “He taught me how to love, in spite of what people do or say. In the ministry and as a person, he was a good example of that. He carried on like that.”

Green was married to his wife, Ange, for nearly 63 years before she died in 2014. She taught at Highland Elementary for 27 years, and eventually became co-pastor with her husband at First Church of God. They had six children together.

Wendell Green said his father was strict and stern, but could always be counted on to cheer him on at home and road Wildcat ballgames when he played and was an exemplary husband.

“He told me when I first got married, ‘Treat your wife like I treat mine,’” Wendell Green said. “He gave my mother any and everything she wanted. He was a solid husband. They were best friends, buddies.”

Clovis Mayor David Lansford said he attended school with Green’s children, and was honored in the last year to present Green with a key to the city.

“Bishop Green was a pillar of faith and a true gentleman,” Lansford said in a statement. “He will be greatly missed by many in our community that he willingly dedicated his life to serving. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this time of sorrow.”

Two services are scheduled — a 6 p.m. Friday community service at First Church of God, and a national and jurisdictional service 11 a.m. Saturday at Faith Christian Family Church.