A Sesquicentennial History of the Green River Missionary Baptist Church
1836 - 1986, Written and Compiled by Wendell Holmes Rone, Sr., For the One
Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Church, 1987. By
permission of author. Ohio County

ALTON WESLEY CROWE was the Thirty-Fifth Pastor to serve the Green River
Church.  Through a Pulpit Committee composed of Glendon Maples, Pat
Shephard and Oles J. Haven he was presented to the Church on February 5,
1958, as a prospect for Pastor.  The Church voted to call him.  The Church
had licensed him to preach on June 19, 1956.  On May 7, 1958, it voted to
ordain him to the Gospel Ministry.
	Brother Crowe was born on August 16, 1918, at Maxwell, Ohio County,
Kentucky, and was the son of Marvin W. Crowe (b. July 41, 1881 - d. June 7,
1955) and Alphia Omega Crowe (b. January 14, 1882 - d. November 3, 1968. 
Both of them had been born at Maxwell, in Ohio County, and had died in
Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky.  They had been married on January 26,
1902, in Ohio County.  Their bodies rest in the Pleasant Hill Methodist
Church Cemetery, near Livermore, and near the McLean-Ohio line.  They were
the parents of nine children - four sons and five daughters - and were
Methodists.
	Brother Crowe was reared on a farm and followed that occupation until he
entered the ministry.  He attended the Chapman Grade School in Ohio County,
graduating on December 89th, 1934.  After entering the ministry he studied
for a time at the Clear Creek Baptist School, Pineville, Kentucky; and, at
the Mid-Continent Baptist Bible College, Mayfield, Kentucky.
	Having become a member of the Woodward's Valley Baptist Church, Ohio
County, he was baptized by Pastor Irlan Snyder.  During an Evangelistic
Service, under the preaching of Pastor Orville Hickey, he yielded to God's
call to preach the Gospel, while Brother Snyder was still Pastor there at
Woodward's Valley.  He preached his first sermon at that Church on October
24, 1954; and, on February 6, 1955, preached at the Mt. Carmel Church, Ohio
County.  While in school at Pineville, he conducted a service in the
Pineville, Bell County, jail.  A prisoner, Oscar Hoskins of Hazard,
Kentucky, was converted to faith in Christ.  This was in 1957, on February
3rd, and was one of his most thrilling experiences.
	On January 8, 1839, he was united in marriage to Miss Annie Laurie Foster
(b. December 5, 1907), a native of Heflin, Ohio County, Kentucky.  She is
the daughter of the late Jesse William Foster (b. January 25, 1881 - d.
December 6, 1971) and Lillie D. Foster (b. March 6, 1886 - d. November 4,
1952).  Brother and Mrs. Crowe were married at Rockport, Spencer County,
Indiana.  They became the parents of three children, all born at Meflin,
Ohio County, as follows:  Linda Ann (Crowe) Chinn (b. January 30, 1939);
Alton Earl Crowe (b. January 4, 1944); and Patricia Lou (Crowe) Wood (b.
April 4, 1946).  There are six grand-children and one great-grandchild. 
Mrs. Crowe was a Baptist, as were her parents.
	On May 7, 1958, the Church voted to ordain Brother Crowe, and asked the
Ohio County Director of Missions, Mearle Wadley, to make the necessary
preparation for the same.  
	On December 7, 1958 (Pearl Harbor Day), the Church met for the purpose of
ordaining Brother Crowe.  Pastor James W. Abernathy (Beaver Dam) served as
the Moderator, and Miller Pirtle (Green River) served as the Clerk of the
Presbytery or Ordaining Council.
	Pastor Lewis Lynch (Fordsville) led in the Interrogation as Brother Crowe
related his Christian Experience and Call to the Ministry and beliefs
concerning Bible Doctrince.  Pastor Hayward Casey (New Union) preached the
Ordination Sermon; W. R. Evans presented to Bible to the newly ordained
Minister; and Pastor Wesley O. Hanson (Hartford) gave the Charges to the
Church and the Candidate.  Others participating in the total service were:
Dom Mearl Wadley, Clyde Finley, Oscar Patterson and Marion Bell.  Brother
Lynch led in the Ordination Prayer.  After the administering of the rite of
the "Laying On Of Hands" by the Presbytery, Brother Crowe led in the
Benediction.  The hand of Christian Fellowship was then extended to him and
his wife.
	Brother and Mrs. Crowe and family were the first to live in the new
Pastor's Home, erected in 1958.  A picture of it, furnished by Mrs. Crowe
is in the history.  Brother Crowe was in his fortieth year when ordained. 
He served the Green River Church from March of 1958, through September 17,
1961.  From 1963 through 1976 he served the Slaty Creek Church in Ohio
county as Pastor.  He did supply work at various churches after that.  His
death came on April 21, 1981, in his sixty-second year.  His remains were
interred in the Sunnyside Cemetery, Beaver Dam, Ohio County, Kentucky. 
Mrs. Crowe still holds her membership in the Slaty Creek Church (1987) and
lives in Beaver Dam.

Crowe Maples Shephard Haven Snyder Hickey Hoskins Foster Chinn Wood Wadley
Abernathy Pirtle Lynch Casey Evans Hanson Finley Patterson Bell
=
McLean-KY Owensboro-Daviess-KY Pineville-Bell-KY Hazard-Perry-KY
Rockport-Spencer-IN

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/ohio/crowe.aw.txt