Obituary for Norman Wayne Starling
Norman Wayne Starling, 92, passed and went Home to be with the Lord on October 5, 2020 in Dripping Springs, Texas. He was born on January 4, 1928, in Birdell, Randolph County, Arkansas to Jewell Vernon Starling and Geneva Barden Starling.
Norman grew up in Imboden, Arkansas, where he attended Sloan Hendrix Academy for twelve years. After graduating in 1945, he enrolled at Harding University, Searcy, Arkansas, and earned a B.A. degree in Bible and physical education in 1949. In 1958 he earned a graduate degree in the New Testament from Harding University Graduate School.
To be his helpmeet throughout the years, Norman found a Mississippi girl, Betty Ross Jones, at Harding University, whom he married on September 8, 1949, in Sardis, Mississippi. During thirty-six years of teaching in the Department of English at Texas State University, and in her retirement, Betty had joined Norman in mission work in eight foreign countries. Their daughter, Angela Faye Starling, has been a dedicated Bible class teacher and mission worker.
Norman began his evangelistic ministry on June 1, 1949 and continued that work for sixty-nine years. During these years he preached and taught the Lord’s gospel extensively in the United States and Canada. He worked as the local evangelist in eight congregations: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Judsonia, Arkansas; and in Austin, Beaumont, Dripping Springs, Seguin, and San Marcos in Texas. His preaching was not limited to Arkansas and Texas. He also labored in thirteen other states: Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Mississippi, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.
In January of 1959, Norman began a teaching assignment with the University church of Christ in San Marcos, Texas. For sixteen years, he taught over six thousand students for Bible credit with Texas State University. In addition, he directed Christian college students in spiritual activities over a period of twenty-two years at the McCarty Student Center. In addition, Norman served as an elder for the University congregation of God’s people for ten years.
Norman recognized a need for nurturing and teaching boys and girls God’s Word firsthand when he counseled teenage boys at Camp Hunt, New York in 1947. Thus, with a brother in Christ, Martin Crass, Norman co-founded in 1965 the Hensel Youth Camp in Travis Peak, Texas, as requested by a benevolent sister, Mrs. Minnie Hensel, who donated 337 acres. Hensel Youth Camp has served and continues to serve as the summer camp for thousands of young people who want to learn about God’s Word and to experience the beauty of the Texas Hill Country that God created for them to enjoy.
In 1978, Norman approached the elders of the Southwest church of Christ in Austin, Texas with the idea for a school of biblical studies that would train and teach Christian men the needed Bible knowledge and skills to go out everywhere and preach the gospel to the world. The Southwest School of Bible Studies was established at the Southwest congregation and has succeeded in achieving Norman’s vision in preparing numerous Christian men to the highest academic and biblical standards. These godly men continue to be effective teachers and preachers in the Lord’s kingdom.
Beginning in 1983, Norman began a thirty-year international ministry in these countries: Canada, Columbia, Trinidad, Germany, Romania, Turkey, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Jamaica, and Thailand. Most of Norman’s mission work was conducted in Jamaica where he preached and taught there for twenty-six years. He worked and established many congregations of the Lord’s church on the island. During those thirty years of his international ministry, he led many evangelistic campaigns where his workers increased their faith by actively spreading the gospel and seeing God’s perfect plan produce new Christians and strengthening the mature Christians in those foreign countries.
Deeply committed to the Lord’s fervent plea that His people “all be one”, Norman earnestly strove for peace, harmony, and unity in the Lord’s family. His long life reflected his lifetime commitment to his Lord’s call to “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” (John 4:35). Norman fulfilled the Lord’s call as a laborer in the Lord’s harvest (Luke 10:2). As Norman labored his whole life in the Lord’s kingdom, may other Christians reap the same admonition from Revelation 14:13, And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
Norman is survived by his loving family, which includes his wife of 71 years, Betty Ross Jones Starling; his daughter, Angela Faye Starling; his siblings, Derrel Starling of Victoria, Texas; Harvey Starling of Madison, Alabama, Ella Traylor of Greenville, South Carolina; and Elta Knight of Farmerville, Louisiana; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation will take place on Friday, October 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Dripping Springs Church of Christ in Dripping Springs, TX. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 17 at 10:30 a.m. at Dripping Springs Church of Christ. A graveside service and burial will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 24, 2020 at Rose Hill Cemetery in Sardis. Ray-Nowell Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the Starling family requests that memorial donations be made to Bible Passages, 287 Beulah Road, Dripping Springs, TX 78620. Bible Passages is the missionary work of John and Carla Moore and under the oversight of the Dripping Springs church of Christ.
Norman grew up in Imboden, Arkansas, where he attended Sloan Hendrix Academy for twelve years. After graduating in 1945, he enrolled at Harding University, Searcy, Arkansas, and earned a B.A. degree in Bible and physical education in 1949. In 1958 he earned a graduate degree in the New Testament from Harding University Graduate School.
To be his helpmeet throughout the years, Norman found a Mississippi girl, Betty Ross Jones, at Harding University, whom he married on September 8, 1949, in Sardis, Mississippi. During thirty-six years of teaching in the Department of English at Texas State University, and in her retirement, Betty had joined Norman in mission work in eight foreign countries. Their daughter, Angela Faye Starling, has been a dedicated Bible class teacher and mission worker.
Norman began his evangelistic ministry on June 1, 1949 and continued that work for sixty-nine years. During these years he preached and taught the Lord’s gospel extensively in the United States and Canada. He worked as the local evangelist in eight congregations: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Judsonia, Arkansas; and in Austin, Beaumont, Dripping Springs, Seguin, and San Marcos in Texas. His preaching was not limited to Arkansas and Texas. He also labored in thirteen other states: Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Mississippi, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.
In January of 1959, Norman began a teaching assignment with the University church of Christ in San Marcos, Texas. For sixteen years, he taught over six thousand students for Bible credit with Texas State University. In addition, he directed Christian college students in spiritual activities over a period of twenty-two years at the McCarty Student Center. In addition, Norman served as an elder for the University congregation of God’s people for ten years.
Norman recognized a need for nurturing and teaching boys and girls God’s Word firsthand when he counseled teenage boys at Camp Hunt, New York in 1947. Thus, with a brother in Christ, Martin Crass, Norman co-founded in 1965 the Hensel Youth Camp in Travis Peak, Texas, as requested by a benevolent sister, Mrs. Minnie Hensel, who donated 337 acres. Hensel Youth Camp has served and continues to serve as the summer camp for thousands of young people who want to learn about God’s Word and to experience the beauty of the Texas Hill Country that God created for them to enjoy.
In 1978, Norman approached the elders of the Southwest church of Christ in Austin, Texas with the idea for a school of biblical studies that would train and teach Christian men the needed Bible knowledge and skills to go out everywhere and preach the gospel to the world. The Southwest School of Bible Studies was established at the Southwest congregation and has succeeded in achieving Norman’s vision in preparing numerous Christian men to the highest academic and biblical standards. These godly men continue to be effective teachers and preachers in the Lord’s kingdom.
Beginning in 1983, Norman began a thirty-year international ministry in these countries: Canada, Columbia, Trinidad, Germany, Romania, Turkey, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Jamaica, and Thailand. Most of Norman’s mission work was conducted in Jamaica where he preached and taught there for twenty-six years. He worked and established many congregations of the Lord’s church on the island. During those thirty years of his international ministry, he led many evangelistic campaigns where his workers increased their faith by actively spreading the gospel and seeing God’s perfect plan produce new Christians and strengthening the mature Christians in those foreign countries.
Deeply committed to the Lord’s fervent plea that His people “all be one”, Norman earnestly strove for peace, harmony, and unity in the Lord’s family. His long life reflected his lifetime commitment to his Lord’s call to “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” (John 4:35). Norman fulfilled the Lord’s call as a laborer in the Lord’s harvest (Luke 10:2). As Norman labored his whole life in the Lord’s kingdom, may other Christians reap the same admonition from Revelation 14:13, And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
Norman is survived by his loving family, which includes his wife of 71 years, Betty Ross Jones Starling; his daughter, Angela Faye Starling; his siblings, Derrel Starling of Victoria, Texas; Harvey Starling of Madison, Alabama, Ella Traylor of Greenville, South Carolina; and Elta Knight of Farmerville, Louisiana; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation will take place on Friday, October 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Dripping Springs Church of Christ in Dripping Springs, TX. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 17 at 10:30 a.m. at Dripping Springs Church of Christ. A graveside service and burial will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 24, 2020 at Rose Hill Cemetery in Sardis. Ray-Nowell Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the Starling family requests that memorial donations be made to Bible Passages, 287 Beulah Road, Dripping Springs, TX 78620. Bible Passages is the missionary work of John and Carla Moore and under the oversight of the Dripping Springs church of Christ.