William H. Jenkins, for more than 30 years a staff member of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, died Dec. 10. He was 85.
At the time of his death, Jenkins was living in Arizona, where he had moved after retiring from the board in 1992.
Jenkins joined the staff of the board in 1957 as director of the department of student work. In 1970 he became director of the board's division of ministries, which included the departments of campus ministry; video promotion and production; missions; and Christian life concerns.
Following a staff reorganization in 1988, Jenkins became director of the office of communications, a post he held until he retired.
A native of Norton, Jenkins was director of religious activities at Baptist-affiliated Carson-Newman College (now University) in Jefferson City, Tenn., for two years before joining the Virginia board staff. Earlier he was director of student work for the Baptist Convention of New Mexico and instructor in Bible and religion at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and director of student work and instructor in Bible and religion at Texas Western College in El Paso, Texas.
In addition, he had been associate pastor of Leigh Street Baptist Church in Richmond and Avondale Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn., as well as pastor of two Texas churches.
Jenkins was a graduate of Carson-Newman College and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1987 he received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Bluefield College.
Jenkins's wife, Mildred White Jenkins, died last July. He is survived by a daughter, Emily Cardoza; a son, William H. Jenkins III; and several grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled to be held in January at First Baptist Church in Richmond. Details have not yet been released.