Obituary - Bishop R. O. Covey

The funeral service for Bishop Covey will be conducted tomorrow, Sunday afternoon at 4:00 PM at the North Ocoee Chapel of the Jim Rush Funeral Home in Cleveland, Tennessee with Reverends Lanny Carter, Rick Brenizer, Allen Davis Sr. and Stephen Smith officiating. Entombment will follow in the Sunset Memorial Gardens with Walter Lofton, Steven Woods, Kevin Werkheiser, Cornelius Butler, Allen Davis Jr. and Perry Horner serving as pallbearers. The North Ocoee Chapel of the Jim Rush Funeral Homes has charge of the arrangements.

Bishop R. O. Covey, age 97, a resident of Cleveland, Tennessee went to be with the Lord early yesterday morning, February 27, 2009. Rev. Rudolph Orval Covey was born November 7, 1911 to the late Charles W. and Flora Lowman Covey at Snowville, Pulaski County, Virginia. Because of the his mothers health and a promise she made to God, Rudolph was given to an uncle and his wife, the late Robert L. and Janie Bishop Covey, who reared him almost from birth. In 1914, they moved west to Warren County, Iowa, where he grew up as a farm boy. In 1929, he became a public school teacher and taught twelve years in the rural schools of Iowa.

In 1930, he spent the summer in the Ozark region of Southern Missouri. There, in a revival in a country Methodist church near Mountain View, he publicly confessed faith in Christ for the new birth. He was baptized by immersion and joined the Methodist church. On May 27, 1936, he was united in marriage to Golda Evelyn Albright, who was also a rural school teacher in Iowa. They were a devoted couple to whom God gave 64 years together.

In 1937, in another country church revival in Warren County, Iowa, they were both spiritually renewed. In July 1938, they became members of the Church of God (A. J. Tomlinson).

Church workers were scarce in Iowa, so, as an unlicensed lay minister, he ministered to the congregation at Shenandoah, Winterset and Ames, along with various state assignments in the church. He was licensed and ordained a bishop in the Church of God of Prophecy in March 1946 and graduated from Bible Training Camp in 1949. From July, 1946 to September, 1960, he and Golda worked in the Church’s Sunday school Orphanage (later known as the Tomlinson Home for Children) except for a year and a half (in 1950-51) of pastoral service at Altavista, Virginia.

His twenty-six years under General Appointment included: General Orphanage Superintendent, nine years; State Overseer of Colorado, two years; World Language Secretary, three years; and Assistant Editor of the White Wing Messenger, twelve years. Having reached “the golden years”, he requested his retirement, effective at the General Assembly in 1977.

He enjoyed writing Christian materials and continued this after his retirement. He published three novels, several inspirational books, and numerous Bible Study Materials. He covenanted with The Church of God in 1993.

He was preceded in death by his dear wife Golda on January 5, 2001. Survivors include: Of the family by which he was reared: his niece, Mrs. Jennye Septer of Indianaola, Iowa, of his blood family, his brother, Warren Covey of Fairbanks, Alaska and also several nieces and nephews from both families.

[My parents, Raymond and Ruby Brock, followed R.O. Covey and Warren Covey at Tomlinson Home for Children in Cleveland, Tennessee. Our prayers are with this precious family and we honor Bishop R. O. Covey for his many years of faithful leadership. Brother Tomlinson loved him, and we do too.]