LUBBOCK, Texas (ABP) — Billy Ray Parmer, former two-time Baptist General Convention of Texas second vice president, died Feb. 28 in a car crash outside Abernathy, Texas.
Parmer, 78, pulled his sports utility vehicle around two stopped cars at an intersection near Abernathy when a truck towing an 8-foot trailer hit the driver's side of Parmer's automobile, according to a Texas Department of Safety spokeswoman.
He and his wife Joan were airlifted to a Lubbock hospital where he died. She was in serious condition March 1.
Parmer was president of Gloria al Padre, an organization that links volunteers with needs in Mexico and elsewhere in the Americas in an effort to spread the gospel. He also had been pastor of churches in San Gabriel, Golinda, and Valley Mills. He was honored as rural pastor of the year in Texas four times.
Parmer was co-chairman of Texas Baptists Committed. “He was very committed,” said David Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed. “You could always count on Billy Ray. When he said he would do something, it would get done.”
Parmer is survived by his wife, their five children and 12 grandchildren.
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