Reporter-News Archives

Sunday, June 28, 1998

Longtime minister eulogized

By TANYA EISERER / Abilene Reporter-News

Amid shouted amens and upbeat hymns, community members gathered Saturday to "celebrate the homegoing" and to say goodbye to a "giant of a man" -- the Rev. T.G. Oliphant.

Oliphant, the Rev. Robert M. Castle of Wichita Falls eulogized, now wears a white robe of a saint -- without blemish or stain -- because he endured the "great tribulation."

Oliphant died June 20 at his home. He was 83.

"Down here he wore the red (robe) of courage, the blue (robe) of faithfulness and the violet (robe) of tenderness," Castle said. "I can assure you that this old soldier of the cross ... has on his white robes, Oliphant went through great tribulation, but for the grace of God, he made it."

The 90-minute service, held at Macedonia Baptist Church where Oliphant pastored for 31 years until his retirement in 1996, was more of a celebration than a funeral.

People swayed, raised their hands, cried and sang old Christian standards like "Holy, Holy, Holy," "It is Well with My Soul" and "Rock of Ages."

"It is a joyous occasion when believers come together to celebrate the homegoing of a fellow saint," said the Rev. K.R. White, who took over as pastor of Macedonia when Oliphant retired.

"If he meant anything in your life, smile," White said. "If he really touched your life, smile. If he said anything that affected your life, smile.

"I really believe that in that day (of the resurrection) you will see him smiling," White said to a chorus of "yes."

Oliphant, who overcame racial prejudices to become a leader in civil rights, pastored four Big Country churches totaling 51 years.

"The Rev. T.G. Oliphant never did take a back seat as far as religion was concerned," said Castle, a longtime friend. "He wanted to be down front."

Many credit Oliphant with helping Abilene avoid the destruction and violence of the volatile late 1960s and early 1970s, when racial tensions were at their height.

Oliphant, who founded the Taylor County chapter of the NAACP and was twice its president, was the first African-American elected president of the Abilene Ministerial Alliance in 1972. He was also president of the Black Ministerial Alliance of Abilene.

"The Rev. T.G. Oliphant was a great man, and his memory still makes him a great man," said Buford Eastmon, a former Macedonia deacon who lives in San Antonio.

Oliphant, who Castle called a "popular minister" and "giant of West Texas, " suffered from emphysema and asthma and had been diagnosed with cancer shortly before his death.

"The report of his condition today comes not from Hendrick Hospital in his sick room but from heaven," said Castle, at the service attended by numerous pastors from the Abilene area and the state. "The report today is he's doing much better."

Charles Oliphant, Oliphant's son who resides in Houston, said his father died at peace.

"According to him, it was all right a month ago," he said. "I wasn't too pleased, but he seemed to think it was great. If he thinks it's pay day, then him and God know better than I do."

Charles Oliphant admonished the standing-room only crowd to remember "the place we call Earth is not home." Home, he said, is heaven.

Thomas Oliphant Jr. who quit his job to take care of his ailing parents, said: "As I stood at his bedside, I told him that he had been my role model. There was a period where I didn't want to be anything like him. I'm nearly 50 years old, and now I see him (in me.) I thank God for the man who was my father.

"We watched him go on Father's Day to his father," he said. "We have this legacy of love and caring, of wanting to do the right thing no matter what."

At the end of the service, Castle brought the crowd to its feet with his rousing eulogy.

"T.G. Oliphant does not have his earthly body. He left it down here," Castle said. "He left it with the undertaker because he went with the uppertakers.

"On Sunday, he was picked up by heaven's limo service. On Sunday, he left West Texas for downtown heaven."

Heaven means different things to different people, Castle said, telling the story of an "old barefoot slave" who thought heaven meant he would get shoes.

For Oliphant, "heaven means laying down his cross and picking up his crown," he said.

Oliphant was born Thomas Grace Oliphant on March 18, 1915, in Kosse and married his wife, Una B., in 1938.

He is survived by his wife; three sons, Adam of Washington, D.C., Thomas Jr. of Abilene and Charles of Houston; and six grandchildren.