Pugh
The Rev. James Edwin Pugh Jr., better known as Brother Pugh, will be remembered as a man who spoke from his heart and spoke from the Bible without reservation and had a positive impact on the Flomaton area for many years.
Brother Pugh, 77, died Sunday, Sept. 1 at the Century Health and Rehabilitation Center.
Beginning in the late 80s or early 90s, Brother Pugh's column 'Dear Pastor' appeared weekly in the Tri-City Ledger as he tackled modern-day issues with Biblical facts. He made some people mad, he made some people happy and he made all people think.
It was at Dewey Bondurant Jr.'s, 40th birthday party that former Tri-City Ledger Publisher Bo Bolton met Brother Pugh and asked him to write a column for his newspaper.
"When I met him and we began talking I told him I needed somebody to write a religious column for the newspaper," Bolton said. "He asked if he could write what he wanted to write and I told him he could write anything he wanted."
"He did a great job with his columns," Bolton said. "He didn't mind stepping on toes, but he wrote from the heart and from the Bible. He was a fine Christian person and really had a good sense of humor. Some of his columns made people feel uneasy, but they read them every week."
Bondurant said he met Brother Pugh many years ago. At one point Bondurant was president of the Optomist Youth Football League and Brother Pugh was the vice president and they traveled a lot back and forth to Pensacola.
"There were times we had to break up fights at those games," Bondurant said. "We became good friends."
Bondurant also served as Brother Pugh's director of music for several months at Poplar Dell Baptist Church.
"Brother Pugh was a great person," Bondurant said. "His integrity was beyond reproach. You don't meet any better than him. He'll be greatly missed."
George Brown, who now serves as principal at Flomaton Elementary School, said he's known Brother Pugh for most of his life. Brown's sister is married to Brother Pugh's son Jimbo.
"He's the most God-fearing man I've ever met," Brown said. "Even if it meant upsetting someone, he'd tell it like it was."
Brown said when Brother Pugh was writing columns for the Tri-City Ledger he read every word.
"He put his love for God above everything else," Brown said. "That's the way it should be. I respected him for that. He was a great man."
A native of Columbus, Miss., Brother Pugh had been a member of he Flomaton community since 1982. He graduated from Mississippi College with a bachelor's degree and graduated from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He was of the Southern Baptist faith and a member of New Beginnings Church in Atmore.
Visitation for Brother Pugh will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at Flomaton First Baptist Church with the funeral beginning at 11:30 a.m. with Dr. Tim Tew officiating. Burial will be held at Poplar Dell Church Cemetery in Century.
See next week's Tri-City Ledger for the full obituary.
