Civil Rights Leader Eulogized as ‘Giant’

They came together--priests and rabbis, church members and civic leaders--joined in a common sorrow.

Hundreds of people filled the wooden pews of Los Angeles’ Second Baptist Church on Monday to remember the Rev. Thomas Kilgore Jr., a heralded civil rights activist and beloved religious leader who died last week at 84.

Standing at the pulpit where Kilgore preached for 22 years, community leaders, friends and colleagues eulogized him as “a prince,” “a giant among men,” and, simply, “St. Thomas.” Kilgore, who helped organize the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, brought his activism to Los Angeles as a founder of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

A prominent religious leader who served as president of two Baptist denominations, Kilgore was also deeply committed to civic involvement. He was an advisor to former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and a longtime member of the Community Redevelopment Agency.

“[He] was a rare individual who understood the necessity of marrying his sacred life . . . to his secular behavior,” said Genethia Hayes, executive director of the leadership conference’s Western region.

Dozens of civic leaders and elected officials turned out for Monday’s funeral service, including several City Council members, former Mayor Bradley, Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and Coretta Scott King.

King, who knew Kilgore well from his days of working with her husband, remembered him as “a true friend who was there for you not only when the sun was shining, but when the storm was raging.”

The service, which lasted all afternoon, was filled with somber prayers and joyful songs as friends praised Kilgore’s compassion, humility and judgment.

“A prince and a great man has fallen in the city of Los Angeles,” said Bishop E. Lynn Brown of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church as the congregation applauded and shouted.

“Thomas Kilgore touched all of us here today and thousands of people throughout the country, and all of us are better than when he found us,” said John Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban League.

Kilgore helped pioneer new partnerships between African Americans and Jews in Los Angeles, starting a sister relationship between Second Baptist Church and the Wilshire Boulevard Synagogue that served as a model for other congregations.

“He will be sorely missed,” said Rabbi Alfred Wolf, director of the Skirball Institute on American Values, who exchanged pulpits with Kilgore. “I pray that [this relationship] lasts into the next millennium as a blessing to both congregations and as a precious heirloom of Pastor Kilgore.”

A graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Kilgore constantly urged educational institutions to be socially responsible.

In 1972, Kilgore gave the baccalaureate address at USC and indicted the university for neglecting the local community. The embarrassed administration immediately asked him to work as an advisor to the university. “I have often said, quietly and privately, that he was a saint,” said Alvin Rudisill, former associate vice president for civic and community relations at USC. “The truth is, he was a prophet. The foundation he laid down will live on for many years. It took at Morehouse man to teach the Trojans responsibility.”

His words drew a standing ovation from the congregation.

While many heralded Kilgore’s public work, others spoke of the private joy he brought to their lives.

“He’s the most wonderful man in the world,” said Willie Mae Graven, 82. “He went to the funeral of every person in my family. I was sick when I heard he left us. He was so good to everyone, no difference if you were rich or poor, black, white, green or purple. He loved everyone.”

Kilgore hired Mildred Simmons to be office manager at the Black Agenda, a coalition dedicated to encouraging business activity within the African American community.

“He was like my best friend,” said Simmons, 43. “He was there for people who others didn’t think would make it, like me. He would tell me I was doing a good job as a single mother. He would tell me not to let go, not to give up. No matter what, he’s still around, as far as I’m concerned.”

Many mourners voiced the hope that Kilgore’s presence will never leave.

Acknowledging this sentiment, Rev. Willie Island, Jr., president of the Baptist Ministers’ Fellowship, offered the following story from Kilgore’s childhood on a farm in South Carolina: One day, Kilgore was tending the crops while his father was ill. A fierce storm blew through, flattening all the corn. Distraught, Kilgore went to his father and told him the crops were ruined.

His father looked at him and smiled. “Give it a few days,” he said. “They will rise again.”

Island looked at the congregation.

“And if you give him time,” he said, “he will rise again, too.”