Rev Ellie James Ridgeway (1922-2005)

Rev Ellie James Ridgeway

Birth

10 Jan 1922

Blount County, Alabama, USA

Death

28 Sep 2005 (aged 83)

McCalla, Jefferson County, Alabama, USA

Burial

Ebenezer Methodist Cemetery

Snead, Blount County, Alabama, USA Add to Map

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Rev. E.J. Ridgeway, of McCalla, AL passed away at the age of 83. He was born at Snead, AL.He retired from the ministry in 1985 after 40 years of serving a total of eight churches.
Ministry of E.J. Ridgeway
First sermon-Empire Church of God - 1948
Attended Lee College(University) - 1948- 1951
1952-1956 First church -Fieldstown-New work-built church
Overton pastor from 1956-1959
Falkville pastor from 1959-1962
Evangelized 1963
Moulton-1964-1973-built church and parsonage
Roebuck- pastored 1973-1974
Oneonta- pastored 1975-1976
Pratt Highway-pastored 1976-1977
Caffee Junction - 1977-1985. Built a fellowship hall onto the existing church and built the parsonage before starting the new church. Retired from pastoring in 1985. He has been speaking at the Tannehill park Church once each month since 1978.
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Awarded Bronze Star
"For heroic achievement during the bombardment of Iwo Jima by the cruiser Santa Fe", Ellie JI. Ridgeway, Gunners'Mate 1/C, of Route 2 Altoona, has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Navy Department officials recently announced.
The Santa Fe, concentrating on Mt. Suribachi, bombarded Iwo Jima continuously for 72 hours before leaving for the air strikes against Kyushu in the Japanese home islands.
Ridgeway was graduated from the Dos Palos High School, CA, in 1940, where he starred in baseball, basketball and football. He entered the Navy in November of that year and served aboard the cruiser Vincennes until she was sunk in the Battles of the Solomons in 1941.He has been aboard the Santa Fe since her commissioning. During that time he has participated in all her naval actions, which include 42 air strikes, nine shore bombardments and four surface actions. In her 25 months of action-packed history, she has logged 221-750 miles at sea.
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E.J. was preceded in death by his parents, Russell Parks and Georgia Wright Ridgeway, five brothers, Virgil, Bedford, Eldridge, Ethridge, Gerald Ridgeway; Two sisters, Mary Painter and Velma Langston.
He is survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Lois Audrea Haller Ridgeway.