Obituary Elder John B. Townsend "When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people" (Genesis 49:33, The New International Version). "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing" (II Timothy 4:7-8). Like the "Old Testament worthies" and the saints of God since time immemorial, the Elder John B. Townsend, Senior, has been "gathered unto his people," in the opt-repeated divinely inspired words of Moses in Genesis to Deuteronomy. That is to say, he died in the Lord as he lived unto the Lord.

A man of God, a preacher of the Gospel, a man's man, a loving husband, a devoted and beloved father and grandfather, and a family patriarch, John B. Townsend was born into the large extended family of David D. (Davie) Townsend and Mary Gurley Townsend. He was named in honor of an uncle, a Buffalo soldier who served with the 10th Cavalry Regiment. Perhaps it is apropos he was born on a Sunday, in fact, on January 11, 1920 in Huntsville, Alabama. A servant of the God of all creation, he passed peacefully into his eternal rest with the Lord less than two months shy of his 95th birthday, Tuesday, November 25, 2014. Living by faith, and dying in the faith, his was a life of faithfulness to God and fullness with his family. When the Lord called him home at a good old age, he was the last of his generation. He was the fourth of more than a dozen siblings, including Lucy Bell, Elizabeth Edmonia, David Jr. (Dave), Mariah, Willie V., and Jacob Leo who survived unto adulthood. A number of his siblings did not survive childhood. They were Abraham Lincoln Townsend, Theodore Roosevelt Townsend, Talmadge Townsend, an infant sister fondly known as "Baby Sister," and the twin, Joseph Cleo Townsend. All his siblings preceded him in death. His paternal grandparents were Willis Townsend and Priscilla (Silla) Jude Townsend (who as a widow, married Cletus Elihue Jasper), and his paternal great-grandparents were Jim Parkes Townsend and Mary L. Townsend, and his maternal grandparents were Jake and Mary Gurley.

Although John's formal education was interrupted when his family fell on hard times, he was blessed by the Lord as a lifelong autodidact, a highly talented self-learner, and an avid reader with a boundless perceptive curiosity. Forming noble ideals, it was a trait that he inculcated to his children. During the Second World War, three of the brothers Townsend - David, John B. and Willie V. - served as brothers-in-arms in the armed forces. At the age of 22, John was inducted into the Army of the United States on December 4, 1942 at Fort Benning, Georgia, almost a year to the date after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His detachment was the 1882nd Unit, Eighth Service Command. In 1944, he was honorably discharged from active duty at Camp Maxey, a World War II infantry training camp in Texas. Following his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army, John Townsend instinctively returned to his hometown to provide for his mother. Ultimately, John, Dave, and Mariah were the only siblings to remain in the south during the second great migration of African-Americans that continued during and after World War II. He worked at a local nursery. At this time, John's first child, Lorenzo Daniel (Bobby) Townsend, was born. Subsequently, John B. met and fell in love with Arcie Studdard. They were united in holy matrimony on December 27, 1947. And in the process of time it came to pass that their union was blessed with eight children, Beverly, the twins: Linda Faye and Glenda Kaye, John B. II, Thelma, Clara, Dianne and Anthony. In those days, the Townsends made their home on Pulaski Pike on the periphery of the 10th Cavalry Hill community. As they were building a life together and a home, John learned that Redstone Arsenal, the home of the Army Ordnance rocket and guided missile program, was hiring. By God's providential care, he applied and gained employment at the facility. During the early 1960s, he transferred as a civil service employee to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). He began his tenure as a truck driver, was promoted to the position of a heavy equipment operator, and he eventually rose to the position of a crane operator. His crew was responsible for the transport of the Saturn V rockets, which powered each of the 13 Apollo missions launched between 1967 and 1973, including the first moon landing on July 20, 1969. He was promoted to an engineering equipment operator in 1975. During his tenure John Townsend received many outstanding commendations and awards of achievement from Dr. Wernher von Braun, a German-born rocket engineer who headed up NASA, the U.S. space program in Huntsville. One of his fond memories was erecting the full life size replica of Saturn V at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) complex.

During this time in his life, John B. Townsend felt a certain tug on his heart from the Holy Ghost. Strangely, even when he was lost, he could quote the Bible verbatim with great élan to win an argument or two. However, when God saved him, his head knowledge gave way to heart or revelation knowledge. Although he was converted late in life, he longed to make up for the lost years of his life without Christ. Initially, he was ordained as a deacon at Taylor's Chapel Primitive Baptist Church. Seeking God's guidance, he still struggled with his real calling in life. He realized that the Spirit of Christ was calling him to the ministry. He felt the urgent call while operating a piece of heavy equipment. Leaping from the equipment, he shared this startling and dramatic call with his stunned co-workers at NASA. He was summoned by the Eternal Lord to do His work. He bowed his knees and his head in obeisance to the Holy Spirit's call and in obedience to God's will for his life. John Townsend preached his initial sermon on Sunday, May 18, 1968 at the Taylor's Chapel Primitive Baptist Church. Accordingly, in due time Pastor James Lane and Deacon James McDavis and the board of deacons voted to license and then to ordain him to the ministry. Following God's call, he immersed himself in Bible study classes at night to broaden his self-directed learning, including studying New Testament Greek. For 46 years, he loved preaching the Word of God and sharing it with others. He spent hours studying the Bible and meditating on the Word. Now rich in faith, John B. Townsend was persistent and prepared. Fighting the good fight of faith on earth in his remaining years, he resolved to "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (II Timothy 4:2). Preaching the Gospel was in his DNA. After all, he was the younger brother of Dave Townsend, a great preacher, and much was expected of him owing to this. He hailed from a long line of preachers and church leaders dating back to slavery. His great-grandfather and family patriarch, Jim Parkes Townsend, was one of the founding members of the New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church in 1910 (a historic figure, he had the honor and distinction of officially naming the church "New Jerusalem"). Two paternal uncles were preachers: Reverend Newman Townsend, who served as the pastor of both the St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church, and the Progressive Union Missionary Baptist Church, (which he formally named and organized under his leadership); and Bishop Thomas Jefferson Townsend, a 1917 graduate of Roger Williams University (a school for African-American preachers in Nashville), who served as the pastor of the Trinity A.M.E. Church in Salt Lake City (Utah's first black congregation), and the Tanner Chapel A.M.E. Church in Phoenix, Arizona, the oldest African American Church in the State of Arizona. John B. continued to follow the Holy Spirit's call by serving as a mission worker with the Southern Baptist Convention, which asked him to serve as the interim pastor of the Clinton Street Baptist Church. He also served as the interim pastor for the saints assembled at the St. Bethel Primitive Baptist Church in Gurley. For many months, he was the supply preacher at the Mount Lebanon P.B. Church in Gurley, Alabama. In those days, wherever he ministered, his wife, Arcie, was there. The Townsend family eventually moved to a new home on Mastin Lake Road. As their children grew up, married and started their own families, he retired from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center after 30 years of government service. He would devote his life full time to serving the Lord. During this time they took into their home a godson, Mario Ford, whom John mentored in the Lord and dubbed him "Timothy" and his "true son in the faith" (I Timothy 1:2). John enjoyed being outdoors, slicing the sod, tending to his garden, plucking thistles, planting God's seemingly endless variety of flowers and vegetables, and to the wonderment of passers-by, mowing his lawn or planting furrows with his tractor, as a gentleman farmer, in the scorching heat of the day. Well into his 90s, he relished hard physical work. Though he was a nonagenarian (one of only 1.9 million Americans aged 90 and older), his God-given energy was his number one tool. Until the end, his infectious laughter, his winning smile, and sense of humor remained intact, delighting his children and grandchildren and charming his caregivers and nurses. John B. and Arcie celebrated their 50th anniversary with their family and friends in 1997. It was an evening of joy and remembrance. Their family included 21 grandchildren and more than a dozen great grandchildren. His beloved wife, Arcie, passed away after a long illness, months shy short of their 60th wedding anniversary.

The Reverend John B. Townsend was preceded in death by his beloved wife of six decades, Arcie Studdard Townsend his grandson, Brian Appleton, and two great grandsons, Fredrick L. Thomas and Antwan Green, his parents and all of his siblings and their spouses. He leaves to cherish his memory, his children: Lorenzo D. (Annie) Townsend, Esq. of San Diego, California, Beverly Townsend Hammonds, Linda Townsend, Glenda Townsend (John) Woods, John B. (Frances) Townsend II, of Mitchellville, Maryland, Dr. Thelma Townsend, Clara Townsend Appleton, Dianne Townsend, and Anthony(Valerie) Townsend; a godson: Elder Mario Ford; his grandchildren: Samuel Taylor, Jr., M. MeChelle Townsend, Tiffany Nicole Courtney, Tonya Woods, Sonya Woods, April Appleton, John B. Townsend III, April Hammonds (James) Wilburn, Melanie Appleton, Jessica R. Townsend, Dawn Hammonds (Thomas) Holman, David J. Townsend, Jessica Bethany Townsend, Ashley Townsend (Michael) Grenon, Brittany Townsend, Christopher Courtland Townsend, Jalissa Townsend, Makayla Townsend and Mia Townsend: and more than a dozen great-grandchildren; his forever faithful in-laws: Margaret P. Dawkins and James (Joyce) Pearson; and a host of nephews, nieces, relatives, friends and loved ones. Throughout his everyday walk with God, Elder John B. Townsend's watchword was "A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify, a never-dying soul to save and fitted for the sky." God blessed John B. Townsend with the gift of longevity. Moses writes of the patriarch Abraham: "Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people" (Genesis 25:8). The same encomium can be spoken of John B. Townsend. God blessed him with 34,652 divinely ordained days, or 4,950 divinely allotted weeks or 1,138 months. At long last, he has been gathered into the heavenly estate with his wife, ancestors, siblings, descendants, friends, and the saints of yore before him who had exercised their faith in the living God (Genesis 49:29-33). His never-dying soul is home with his Lord.

Funeral service for Elder John B. Townsend, Sr. will be Saturday, December 6, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. at Taylor's Chapel Primitive Baptist Church (3100 Stringfield Road - Huntsville, AL 35810) with Elder James Lane officiating. Elder Townsend will be placed in the church one hour prior to the funeral service. Interment will be in Penny's Cemetery.