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2007 SESSION


SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 318
Celebrating the life of Queenie Jane Greene Barton.
 
Agreed to by the Senate, January 18, 2007
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, January 26, 2007
 

WHEREAS, Queenie Jane Greene Barton, a respected citizen of Norfolk and beloved pastor, died on September 14, 2006; and

WHEREAS, Queenie Jane Greene, born on December 3, 1913, to Richard and Mamie Greene, was very devoted to her family, especially her four sisters and brother, and her community; and

WHEREAS, Queenie Barton grew up in Trenton, North Carolina, and attended Scott Faults School and later Winston-Salem Teachers College; and

WHEREAS, Queenie Barton was a tobacco factory worker and traveled with her employer to Richmond in the early 1930s in search of employment; and

WHEREAS, deeply religious as a youth, Queenie Barton was  drawn to the ministry at the age of 20, while attending the Jerusalem Holiness Church, an affiliate of Mount Sinai Holy Church of America headed by Pastor Annie H. Chamblin; and

WHEREAS, in September 1944, Queenie Barton, at the age of 30, became the youngest person to be ordained in Mount Sinai Holy Church of America; and

WHEREAS, Queenie Barton married her beloved husband, the late Elijah Barton, in the early 1940s and was called again in 1947 to move and minister to the people of Norfolk; and

WHEREAS, serving as the founding pastor of the Holy Jerusalem Church of God in Christ for over 50 years, Queenie Barton began holding services in her home and then moved the congregation to a storefront and later to a church building on Vick Street; and

WHEREAS, Queenie Barton's mentor, Bishop L. E. Willis, steadfastly supported the young minister at a time when there were virtually no female pastors in the church; and

WHEREAS, Queenie Barton was inspired by the powerful speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and marched for civil rights with the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Bishop Willis; and

WHEREAS, Queenie Barton will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by her two sisters, Mildred and Bertha, her loving nieces and nephews, and a host of cherished friends; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly mourn the passing of an outstanding pastor and fine Virginian, Queenie Jane Greene Barton; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Queenie Jane Greene Barton as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for her memory.