Nolan Bailey Harmon, American Bishop. Ordained to ministry Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1918. Director Save the Children Federation, 1940-1948; member United Board for ChristianColls. in China; trustee emeritus Emory University, Georgia; trustee Drew U., New Jersey, 1940-1956, High Point College, North Carolina, 1957-1964, Wesley Theological Seminary, Am.U., 1964-1968. First lieutenant, chaplain O.R.C. Member Masons, Kappa Sigma.
Background
Nolan Bailey Harmon was born July 14, 1892, in Meridian, Mississippi, and died on June 8, 1993, living to be over 100 years old. His funeral was held on June 12, 1993, at Druid Hills United Methodist Church, and he was buried in the Evergreen Burial Park in Roanoke, Virginia. He was the son, grandson and great-grandson of Methodist Preachers.
Nolan"s wife Rebecca Lamar died at age 84 in 1980.
His children were Nolan B. Harmon III and G. Lamar Harmon. He himself was the bishop of The Methodist Church and United Methodist Church elected in 1956.
Education
AB, Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, 1914. Doctor of Divinity, Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, 1929. Master of Arts, Princeton, 1920.
Doctor of Humane Letters, Mount Union College, 1946. Doctor of Divinity, Duke, 1959. Doctor of Letters, American University, 1946.
Doctor of Letters, Western Maryland College, 1947. Doctor of Letters, Hamline University, 1947. Student, Emory University School Theology, 1917.
Doctor of Divinity, Emory University School Theology, 1958. Doctor of Laws, Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1961.
Career
In 1940 Harmon was elected book editor of the newly reunited Methodist Church. He edited publications of Abingdon Press and the journal Religion in Life. He also was general editor of the twelve volume Interpreters Bible.
He was elected by the Southeastern Jurisdiction Conference of The Methodist Church.
As a bishop, he presided over the work of various Annual Conferences in the Southeastern United States. He retired from the active episcopacy in 1964.
Also in retirement, Bishop Harmon served on the faculty of Emory University as a visiting professor, continuing there into his 96th year. Further into his retirement, Nolan taught classes on government and history of Methodists.
A friend of his drove him to and from classes, and he lived by the university at the time.
In April 1963 Bishop Harmon made civil rights history when he, along with seven other white clergymen (including fellow-Methodist Bishop Paul Hardin Junior), released a statement calling on African Americans to stop taking part in demonstrations initiated by the Review Doctor Martin Luther King Junior. The statement called the demonstrations "unwise and untimely", and argued that change should be pursued through negotiation and judicial action.
This statement caused Doctor King to write his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail".
In his 1983 autobiography, Bishop Harmon referred to the letter as a "propaganda move". Bishop Harmon died June 1993, the first U.M. Bishop to live to be 100 (or more) since Bishop Herbert George Welch.
He was also the oldest out of the eight white clergymen. Harmon, Nolan Bailey, Ninety Years and Counting (autobiography).
Director Save the Children Federation, 1940-1948. Member United Board for Christian Colleges in China. Trustee emeritus Emory University, Georgia.
Trustee Drew University, New Jersey, 1940-1956, High Point College, North Carolina, 1957-1964, Wesley Theological Seminary, American University, 1964-1968. 1st lieutenant, chaplain O.R.C. Member Masons, Kappa Sigma.
Connections
Married Rebecca Barry Lamar, June 20, 1923. Children: Nolan Bailey III, George Lamar.