Governor Wallace a longtime United Methodist
9/17/1998 by United Methodist News Service Governor George Wallace did not exploit his longtime membership in the United Methodist Church nor did he apologize for it, according to retired Bishop Paul Duffey, a friend since college days.
"We were never on the same political wave length, but we were always friends," Duffey said.
The bishop was among several clergy participating in Wallace's funeral at First United Methodist Church in Montgomery Sept. 17. Although Wallace has been a member of St. James United Methodist Church, the funeral was held at First Church because St. James is in the midst of a relocation and rebuilding project. Approximately 1,000 people attended the service, some arriving hours early to get a seat.
Many United Methodists will remember that Governor Wallace was elected as a lay delegate from Alabama to the 1968 General Conference in Dallas. It was at that meeting that The Methodist and the Evangelical United Brethren churches formally joined to create the United Methodist Church. It was also at that conference that the last vestiges of the former Methodist Central (black) Jurisdiction were eliminated.
Duffey, who headed the clergy delegation from Alabama to the conference, said Wallace went to Dallas but stayed in a hotel some distance away and did not attend any of the sessions. "Because he was in running for office he said people would think he was using the church for personal gain if he attended," Duffey said.
"I never remember a time when he criticized the church," the bishop continued. "He had his own differences and judgment but he was never anti-church. He treated every bishop assigned to Alabama with great respect. He was that way with everybody. "
Duffey said Wallace's conversion or change in attitude, particularly toward race, came out of "more mature reflection. I don't think he ever hated black people in a mean, vicious sense. He used race as political expediency because of the time in which he lived."
Duffey attributed Wallace's change to the death of his wife Lurleen in 1968, his being shot in an assassination attempt in 1972, and "these last years when he has concentrated on Scripture and eternal life."
Duffey praised the governor for his willingness to apologize. "It 's one thing for somebody to apologize to another individual privately but quite another thing for a person so politically powerful and prominent to apologize publicly and openly as he did. I believe he experienced genuine change."
Because of poor health, Wallace has not been able to attend church for several years but when Duffey was pastor at First Church in Montgomery the governor told him he listened regularly to the broadcast of his worship service. Duffey said he had visited Wallace "off and on through the years."
Bishop William Morris, the first African American to serve as bishop in the church's Alabama-West Florida Conference, participated in the funeral service Sept. 16 and led a special service for family members the day before. Others who participated in the service at First Church were the Rev. Karl Stegall, First Church pastor; the Rev. Lester Spencer Jr., pastor at St. James; and the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham.
"All of us have a stand in the schoolhouse door inside of us," observed Spencer, who delivered the eulogy. "All of us have sinned against God and man. But George Wallace had the courage to admit publicly that he was wrong and seek forgiveness. The legacy of George Wallace is not the stand in the schoolhouse door. I believe the legacy of George Wallace is conversion to Christ and a changed heart."
Another United Methodist, Marianna-Panama City District Superintendent, officiated at graveside services at Montgomery's Greenwood Cemetery.
Wallace served four terms as Alabama's governor: 1962, 1970, 1974, 1982. His wife Lurleen was elected governor in 1966. Her funeral was held at St. James Church in 1968. Wallace made four unsuccessful runs for the presidency: 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976. It was during his presidential campaign in 1972, following a rally in Laurel, Md., that he was shot by Arthur Bremer, paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair.
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