JOE C. EAKIN III
Joe C. Eakin III was born in Waco on July 27, 1931, to Anne Pearl Wiggins Eakin and Joe Cecil Eakin Jr. He passed into eternity on April 14, 2022. His childhood was spent in Waco, Chilton and Marlin, where he graduated from Marlin High School in 1949. He entered Baylor University in 1949, majoring in history, and married Meriam Elder in 1953 in Kilgore. He graduated from Baylor University in 1954 and continued his education, receiving a bachelor of Divinity in 1957 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kent. He pastored Baptist churches in East Sabine, Tenaha and Mexia. He and his wife moved to Tyler in 1989 where they have been longtime members and supporters of Marvin United Methodist Church.