The man
affectionately known as “Baba” was kind, affable, civil and never forgot where
he came from. He even assured his mother that he would make her proud some day.
Barron
Keith McGlothlin made good on that promise. He’d become a consummate educator,
businessman, executive, events planner, community servant, church worker,
family man, and managed some of the industry’s top gospel artists.
“I mostly raised him without a
father,” said Paralee Cager. “He never forgot the struggle that I had to go
through. He loved me and always tried to see about me.”
McGlothlin loved God, too, and never
forgot the church, said Cager, struggling with grief after losing a second son
in less than two years. Darron McClothlin, her eldest, died in June 2013.
On Friday, Feb. 20, McClothlin was
found unresponsive in a running Cadillac Escalade in an unlit area not far from
the Memphis International Airport. There were no signs of foul play, Memphis
police said. The cause of death is still pending.
McGlothlin was 53.
 |
| Barron Keith McGlothlin (second from right) |
Despite the circumstances
surrounding her son’s death, Cager said, “I love my son. If I could change
things, he would be with me today. God lent him to me for awhile and came back
to pick up one of the best.”
McGlothlin loved his family, too,
his brother said. Although 11 years separated them, “his passing was an
eye-opening experience,” said the Rev. Fredrick Cager, senior pastor of True
Authority Church in Cordova.
“A piece of my life is gone…a piece
of the world is gone,” said Rev. Cager, who was left with the responsibility of
tending his brother’s personal affairs. “I miss him, but I haven’t had the
opportunity to grieve. I haven’t had the time to register that he’s passed.”
Reflecting on what his brother meant
to him, Rev. Cager said, “My family was raised in poverty in North Memphis. He
was the first to go to college, the first to leave Memphis, the first to branch
outside the restraints (of poverty). So I attribute to him the things I’ve
received (in life) by watching him.”
McGlothlin was always enlarging his
territory, his brother said – for example, as an executive staff member of the
Church of God in Christ’s International Music Department, as the administrative
aide and business manager to the late national recording artist O’landa Draper,
and as a productive member of Greater Community Temple COGIC.
“He served in many capacities such
as events planner, director of Community Relations, director of our annual
10-week summer camp called ‘Camp Porter,’ where he hired certified instructors
and others to provide a safe, fun and educational haven for children ages
4-15,” said Bishop Brandon B. Porter, GTC’s senior pastor and jurisdictional
prelate of COGIC’s Tennessee Central Jurisdiction.
Bishop Porter also said that
McGlothlin was responsible for coordinating the church’s annual picnic and
worked very closely with the community benevolent outreach ministries that
delivered food, clothes, toys, etc., to thousands of families in need.
The Rev. Ricky Floyd, pastor of The
Pursuit of God Transformation Center, said, “On the first day Baba and I met,
we instantly became family and friends.”
That was 3 ½ years ago, said Floyd,
when Kingdom Alliance Entertainment presented McGlothlin, Tracy Bethea of 95.7
Hallelujah FM, and Floyd with a “Kingdom Shaker and Mover Award” for their work
in advancing the “Kingdom.”
Over the course of their friendship,
the clergyman noted that McGlothlin helped his son with his rapping career and
helped his other son grow his graphic’s business.
He also worked with notable gospel
singers such as Perfection, 4 Given, Change, Josh Bracy, The Clark Sisters,
Dottie Peoples, Yolanda Adams, Kurt Carr, Kathy Taylor Brown, Crystal Rucker,
and others.
Gwendolyn Turner, co-founder of the
Angelic Voices of Faith, remembers having dinner with McGlothlin at a
restaurant where the general manager offered to define McGlothlin’s nickname.
“He said baba in his country means
father,” said Turner, using the meaning to reference McGlothlin’s multifaceted
career and his intense relationship with friends and loved ones.
“Baba fathered so many of us,” she
said. “He fathered us in how to treat each other; he fathered us in the ways of
business; and he fathered us in music ministry. There was no one he would not
help, advise, or counsel.”
McGlothlin used those inherent
qualities to advance the thinking of his students in Memphis and Shelby County
Schools as well, which earned him the honor of being an “Outstanding Black
Educator” and “Teacher of the Year.”
“He was very smart,” his brother
said.
McGlothlin’s absence is causing
hearts to break.
“Our faith in God will help us get
through this,” said Teresa McGlothlin, an aunt.
Visitation is Friday, Feb. 27, from
5-7 p.m. at Greater Community Temple COGIC, 5151 Winchester Rd. The funeral is
11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, also at the church, followed by the interment in
Southwoods Memorial Park, 5485 Hacks Cross Rd.
N.J. Ford and Sons Funeral Home has
charge.
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