On the recordJuly 7, 2011
While we were in recess on June 25, Memphis lost one of its great citizens, Bishop J.O. Patterson, Jr. Bishop Patterson was the grandson of the founder of the Church of God in Christ, Bishop Charles Mason, and the cousin of the revered and late Bishop G. Patterson, who was the sixth bishop of the COGIC. Bishop J.O. Patterson, Jr., was a public servant as well as a bishop and a revered citizen of Memphis. He was my friend. We served together in the Constitutional Convention of 1977. He served one term in the house, two terms in the State senate, 20 years in the city council, and was the first appointed African American mayor of the City of Memphis. He was a leader in his church and he cared about his community. He cared about jazz and he cared about his fellow man. He was low key, sincere, down to earth, and a leader whom Memphis will miss. He did much with the opportunities that he was given through his father and his family and his city in politics and in other areas. He was the jurisdictional bishop for the Tennessee headquarters, the head of the Pentecostal Temple Institutional Church of God in Christ and did much with the COGIC. I will miss him and so will the City of Memphis and all of the Members and all of the saints. ____________________
