8/18/2016
The Reverend Harold Stanley Mullins (retired) of Montgomery, Alabama, died August 18, 2016. He was born in Tuscaloosa on June 25, 1930, the only child of the late Gilbert B. Mullins and Leona Billings Mullins. He was predeceased by his wife of sixty years, Janice McNeill Mullins. He is survived by his daughters Jennifer Garrett (Bill) of Montgomery and Rebecca Mullins and her husband, Steve Johnson of Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and son Harold Stanley Mullins, Jr. of Montgomery. He holds dear his five grandchildren: Billington Garrett; Nathaniel, Matthew, and Stephen Johnson; and Mackenzie Mullins. He is also survived by his Billings cousins and by Janice's devoted siblings: Iris McNeill King of Elizabethtown, North Carolina; Myrtle McNeill Starnes of Lake Junaluska,; and William McNeill of Elizabethtown. Stan was blessed by his "brothers" Joe, Dick, Tom, Max, and Richard.
Reverend Mullins considered it a privilege to have graduated from Birmingham Southern College and The Divinity School of Duke University. As a seminarian, he served Singletary Methodist Church, Dublin, North Carolina, where he met Janice. They together faithfully and generously served the following churches during his forty-one years as a pastor in the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church: Hope Hull United Methodist; First United Methodist, Pensacola, Florida, where they also shepherded the founding of St. Andrew United Methodist; Summerville United Methodist, Phenix City; Kingswood United Methodist, Mobile; First United Methodist, Luverne; Dalraida United Methodist, Montgomery; First United Methodist, Greensboro; and St. James United Methodist, Montgomery. Upon retirement, Stan and Janice owned Mullins Antique Lamp Shop. Stan was renowned for his restoration expertise and restored many chandeliers in the Alabama Capitol Complex.
Throughout his ministry and particularly during the Civil Rights Movement, Stan actively promoted the brotherhood and sisterhood of Christ; he encouraged others to reach into the unfamiliar to know God; and he humbly considered himself a pilgrim on that same journey. He lived by the words of a revered professor: "As long as persons seek the truth, they can never dishonor God." He once explained, "That's enough to go on from here. It provides plenty of light to walk by to make it through the shadows."
A celebratory memorial service will be held at Dalraida United Methodist Church, Montgomery, at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 21. Visitation will be in the church parlor at 2:00 p.m. The family requests, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Wesley Gardens, 1555 Taylor Road, Montgomery 36117.