WARE, BROWNING WORTH (1928 ~ 2002). Browning Worth Ware, Th.D., House and Senate Chaplain, was born in Fort Worth, Texas on November 5, 1928, and was a 1946 graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas.
He held degrees from Baylor University, B. A., and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, B. D. and Th. D., and was a Merrill Fellow at Harvard Divinity School. He was pastor to congregations in Satin, Denton, Hubbard, Cleburne, Beaumont, and Austin, Texas, and, as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Austin for more than 20 years, Dr. Ware was a leader in the ecumenical movement.
"It was impossible to dislike Browning Ware," Bishop John McCarthy of the Austin Roman Catholic Diocese said.
He was a leader in the community, serving in numerous capacities with the Texas Baptist Convention, the Southern Baptist Convention, ministerial alliances, mental health organizations, the Austin Ethics Commission, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Dr. Ware reached out to thousands through his weekly newspaper column, "Diary of a Modern Pilgrim," that ran for more than 40 years in various Texas newspapers, many of those years in the Austin American-Statesman.
Dr. Ware was also a key cog behind the creation of a mission church in Juarez, Mexico, although he declined to take credit for it. Beginning in 1977, Dr. Ware served the Texas Legislature as Chaplain of the House and the Senate until 1991.
He retired from First Baptist Church on January 21, 1996, passed away on October 29, 2002, and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery three days later. He had three children, Suzanne Ware Luper, Brooks Browning Ware, who preceded him in death, and Camille Ware Kress.
Information taken in part from obituary, Austin American-Statesman, Thursday, October 31, 2002, and records held in the Texas State Cemetery Archives.
|
Follow Us