Dr. Richard Raymond Lloyd Jr.

Dr. Richard Raymond Lloyd, Jr. was born on March 3, 1929, in Fort Edward, New York, to Rev. Richard Raymond Lloyd, Sr. and Edith Evans Lloyd. He grew up on the shores of Lake George, where his father had built a small cottage in 1932, and graduated from Oneonta High School. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from Carson Newman College in 1950, serving as Student Body President, with majors in English, History, and Music. He later received a Bachelor of Divinity in 1953 and a Doctor of Theology in 1960 from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

On December 21, 1953, he married Gretta Virginia Johnson, his beloved “songbird,” with whom he shared 71 and a half years of marriage, love, and ministry. He began pastoring at age 20 and went on to serve five churches: Caney Ford Baptist Church in Roane County, Tennessee; First Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Illinois; First Baptist Church in Rockwood, Tennessee; Ridgedale Baptist Church in Chattanooga; and, for twenty-two years, First Baptist Church in Starkville, Mississippi. In retirement he served as interim pastor in thirty churches across Mississippi, New York, and East Tennessee, including First Baptist Church of Oak Ridge and First Baptist Church of Jefferson City, as well as at Kowloon International Baptist Church in Hong Kong. He also taught at Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary and the Nigerian Baptist Seminary in Ogbomosho, Nigeria. He was especially devoted to strengthening Baptist churches in upstate New York and, for more than fifty summers, continued the family tradition by preaching at Lakeside Chapel in Cleaverdale, New York, on the banks of Lake George.

He served his denomination on the Board of the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home, as President of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, and on both the Southern Baptist Convention Religious and Ethics Committee and Executive Committee. He and Gretta were the parents of four children: Richard Raymond III, William Evan, Vicky May, and Linda Lee.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Gretta, his children William Evan and Linda Lee, his daughter-in-law Dr. Debra Heard Lloyd, his son-in-law Joseph Redfearn, two stillborn sisters, and his stillborn great-grandson Tanner Joseph Redfearn. He is survived by his children Dr. Richard Raymond Lloyd III and Vicky Redfearn Wilkes (Steve); his cherished grandchildren Rev. Richard R. “Logan” Lloyd IV (Claire), Dr. Kelsey Lee Lloyd, Rachel Ann Redfearn, Jacob Michael Redfearn (Erika), William Jordan Lloyd, and Captain Joseph Evan Redfearn, U.S. Space Force (Jessie); and his great-grandchildren Cora Lynn Lloyd, Eva James Lloyd, and Josephine Mae Redfearn. As the last surviving member of the William Victor Johnson family’s eleven children and their spouses, he also leaves behind many beloved nieces and nephews.