For More Info...Rev. Billy E. & Mrs. Jessie Hogue

Reverend Hogue (1928-1998) was pastor at Grandview Baptist Church, Selma St., Dothan, AL, from April 1971 until May 1990. Hogue was a resident of Bessemer, AL, who attended Howard College and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Before moving to Dothan and Grandview Baptist, Hogue pastored at Broadmoor Baptist Church of Bessemer and Spring Hill Baptist Church in Mobile.

Rev. and Mrs. Jessie [Vining] Hogue married in 1948. She was a supportive pastor's wife and leader of women in her congregations. Blessed with "the gift of hospitality," Mrs. Jessie led classes at Grandview in artful cooking and decorating on tight budgets, supported missions, and specialized in Christmas gifts for clients at Dothan's Diversion Center.

During the Hogues' pastorate, Grandview took multiple mission trips, celebrated its 80th anniversary, added an education building, tennis and basketball courts, remodeled the sanctuary, purchased a new piano, organ, bus, and second staff home, and held a mortgage-burning party to celebrate being debt-free.

The Hogues retired to Bessemer after 1990 and are buried in adjoining graves in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Bessemer, AL.

[Sources: Historical Files, Grandview Baptist Church; Find A Grave.]

The family of Greg, Beth, and Jessica Unger placed this memorial to Rev. and Mrs. Hogue.

If you have information or images you can share concerning the Hogues, please contact us at wiregrassarchvies@troy.edu

MAGNOLIA

“Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), also called evergreen magnolia, bull-bay, big-laurel, or large-flower magnolia, has large fragrant white flowers and evergreen leaves that make it one of the most splendid of forest trees and a very popular ornamental that has been planted around the world. This moderately fast-growing medium-sized tree grows best on rich, moist, well-drained soils of the bottoms and low uplands of the Coastal Plains of Southeastern United States. It grows with other hardwoods and is marketed as magnolia lumber along with other magnolia species to make furniture, pallets, and veneer. Wildlife eat the seeds, and florists prize the leathery foliage.”  [Source - http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/magnolia/grandiflora.htm]

PLAQUE