Memorial service slated July 6 at Morrison Grove

THE REV. EMERY L. RAMSEY

The Burgess Landrum Alumni Association will hold a Memorial Service 11:30 a.m. Sunday, July 6, at Morrison Grove Baptist Church. A special tribute will be paid to the members who have passed away since the 2007 reunion. The Rev. Emery Lawrence Ramsey will bring the message. The public is invited.

Ramsey, a 1969 graduate of Burgess Landrum High School, is the son of Beulah B. Ramsey and the late Walter Ramsey. While attending Burgess Landrum, Ramsey participated in band, basketball and football. In 1968, he was chosen to be "Principal for a Day."

Ramsey attended Savannah State University where he majored in health and physical education. In 1979, he was named to "Who's Who Among Outstanding Young Men of America."

His coaching career includes serving as assistant football coach, head basketball coach and head baseball coach at McCracken High School, Bluffton, S.C. During his seven years there, he helped lead the football team to four straight football state finals.

In 1981, he became the assistant football coach and assistant basketball coach at Savannah High School. In 1985, he became the defensive coordinator of the Savannah High School Blue Jackets. In 1987, he was named head football coach, and he led the team to a 9-win/4-loss record. He was named the 1987 Savannah News-Press City Football Coach of the Year, for which he received a letter of leadership from then-governor Zell Miller.

In 1988, Ramsey moved to Columbus to take an assistant football and basketball coach position at Carver High School.

In 1990, he became the defensive coordinator at Spencer High School for three years; he also served as head coach of the girls' basketball team for two years.

In 1993, Ramsey, led by the Holy Spirit, decided to step away from coaching and enter the ministry, preaching and teaching the Word of God. This was a lifetime dream for him, and it was an easy decision to leave sports and begin preaching the Gospel.

From 1999 until 2004, he served as pastor of Westtown United Methodist Church in Albany. He then returned to St. Mary's Road United Methodist Church in Columbus, where he serves as an assistant to the pastor.

Ramsey is married to his wife of 33 years, Janice Bryant, and they have two children, Elesha and Jason, and two grandsons, Steven and Reginald.