On Tuesday, January 10, around 2:30 p.m., Mrs. Verna Malone, wife of Welch College President Emeritus Dr. Tom Malone, passed from this life and was taken into the presence of our Lord. Mrs. Malone leaves behind her a legacy of faithfulness to Christ and His church and a commitment to Christian higher education.
A native of Darlington, South Carolina, Verna met Tom Malone in their college years. They married in 1961. After Dr. Malone’s graduation from Welch in 1963, which was then Free Will Baptist Bible College, they remained in Nashville while he assisted in the college’s promotion and fundraising arms. Mrs. Malone then served faithfully as a pastor’s wife, chiefly at First Free Will Baptist Church of Florence, Alabama, where she served as a kindergarten teacher and later bookkeeper at the Christian school affiliated with the church. Her greatest joy was being the mother of five daughters, Carol, Marianne, Kristi, Aimee, and Tommie Jo, all of whom would go on to graduate from Welch College.
Mrs. Malone became more widely known and dearly loved in her years as first lady of Welch College from 1990 to 2002. She distinguished herself as a woman of God whose deep commitment to the mission of the college and profound love for the institution and its students made an indelible imprint on the college family and the wider denomination. Her love for the institution manifested itself in the attendance of eleven of her grandchildren at Welch (the other two are still in high school and expect to attend Welch).
The funeral service for Mrs. Malone will be held at New Hope Free Will Baptist Church in Joelton, Tennessee, Friday, January 13, at 1:00 p.m. Visitation will be from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, and before the service Friday at 11:00 to 1:00. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to Welch College, 1045 Bison Trail, Gallatin, TN 37066, where the Verna Malone Scholarship for a female teacher education student and a female business student will be established.
Please be in prayer for Dr. Malone and the entire family, and please join the Welch College community in expressing gratitude to God for the life of Verna Malone.