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- Find-a-Grave Obituary
Charles Louis Pate
It would have been easy for Charles L. Pate to walk away when his congregation took a 180-degree turn.
When he signed up in 1967 as pastor of Ben Hill Christian Church in southwest Atlanta, the 100-member congregation was totally white. He stayed put for 37 years, though, through white flight and money worries and cruel taunts from both sides of the racial divide.
"Sure, the pressure got to him," said his wife, Ronelle Bass Pate of Atlanta. "He'd joke about how he'd wake up every Monday morning and decide to quit, and how'd I'd talk him out of it.
"But it was discouraging when he'd go out into the community and try to call on people to come to the church and every house had a 'For Sale' sign. It was pretty tough at times, not just financially for the church but dealing with the feeling that he wasn't going to be able to make the church grow."
By the time he retired in 2005, his congregation was 97 percent black and 200 faithful members strong.
"Out of all the religious people I've been exposed to, it was Charles who helped me see the true meaning of being a child of God," said Barbara Woolfolk of Atlanta, who became its first black member in 1971.
Mr. Pate, 67, of Atlanta died of cancer Monday at Southwest Christian Hospice. The funeral is 2 p.m. today at Bethany Christian Church in Carrollton. J. Hoyt Thomas Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
The Carroll County native earned a bachelor's degree from Atlanta Christian College in 1963 but eschewed religious titles.
"Charles thought the word 'reverend' meant perfect and he didn't go with that," his wife said. "He wanted to be one of them, not above them."
After living in the parsonage a few years, Mr. Pate and his wife bought a house near the church and sent their children to Ben Hill Elementary School, where they recruited church members through the PTA.
Often, Mrs. Pate said, neighborhood teenagers were the first to visit the church through its Vacation Bible school, then came back with their parents.
Today, members come from Decatur, Marietta, Riverdale, Douglasville and other scattered locales, said Shirley Pritchett, who joined in 1957.
"People were always made to feel welcome," said Mrs. Pritchett of East Point.Sometimes, his wife said, Mr. Pate drew fire from white ministers for putting pressure on them to change. He was threatened by a local businessman who warned that the Ku Klux Klan would burn a cross in their front yard.
"He had to endure all kinds of remarks," his wife said. "When people would say, 'You'll never get another church,' he'd say, 'I don't want a congregation if it means that people of all races aren't welcome.' "
Mr. Pate handed out Bibles at housing projects, ministered to the homeless, helped train young black ministers and won a Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award in 1974.
After failing health forced him to retire, he had hoped to help other churches deal with changing congregations --- a job he was perfect for, Ms. Woolfolk said.
"If anybody is going to heaven, it will be Charles," Ms. Woolfolk said. "He saw no color."
Survivors include two daughters, Michele Hughes of Temple and Christy Stansberry of Lilburn; a son, Robby Pate of Atlanta; two brothers, J.W. Pate of Villa Rica and Jimmy Pate of Dallas; and seven grandchildren.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1939 - 2006 (67 years)