Porter Wroe Routh was born July 14, 1911, in Lockhart, Texas, to Mary Wroe Routh and Southern Baptist minister and editor Eugene Coke Routh. Porter spent his early years in Texas before his father accepted the position as editor of the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger newspaper. He graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1934 with an A.B. degree in Political Science. He did additional academic work at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the University of Missouri. He received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1950 and Doctor of Divinity degree from Wake Forest University in 1978. He served as Associate Secretary with the Oklahoma Baptist Convention and served as editor of the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger from 1944-1945. From 1945-1951, he was Secretary of the Department of Survey, Statistics, and Information at the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1951, he was elected to served as the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. He retired in 1979. He died in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1987.
This oral history interview was conducted by A. Ronald Tonks with Porter Routh over several sessions in 1986-1987 in the Southern Baptist Convention building in Nashville, Tennessee. The interview includes discussions of Routh’s growing up days in Texas and Oklahoma, his student life at Oklahoma Baptist University, and his work with the Oklahoma Baptist Convention and the Baptist Messenger newspaper. The interview includes information on Routh’s work at the Sunday School Board and his service as Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention.
