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Pastor Dr. Bobby Joe Tolbert has shown a deep commitment to his community through active and dedicated involvement in numerous leadership endeavors in the community of Three Rivers, ever aimed at improving the quality of life for all people. Dr. Tolbert was born, reared and received his early education in Montevello, Alabama. Dr. Tolbert played professional baseball on the Kansas City Monarch Baseball Team before becoming a player on the team of God. After moving to Chicago, he attended Cortez Peters Business College, where he met his loving and devoted wife, Henri’Etta. After receiving the call by God to the ministry he matriculated to Chicago Baptist Institute, DePaul University, and received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Tennessee School of Religion, Memphis, Tennessee. Pastor Tolbert participated in the organization and implementation of the Biddy Basketball program (now called “Junior Pro”), and Fraternal Order of Police Baseball Program, which he coached for five years. As a member of the Civitan Service Club, he helped organize the first youth chapter of Civitan. His civic activities over the years of dedicated service include: Three Rivers Community Chest Board, St. Joseph County Mental Health Board, President of the Three Rivers Ministerial Association, sixteen years as President of the Three Rivers Branch NAACP; sixteen years on the Three Rivers Hospital Authority Board, Kalamazoo/St. Joseph County Private Industry Council five years, Three Rivers Community School Board of Education five years (two years as president). Pastor Tolbert served on the Three Rivers School Board committee for the building of Three Rivers Middle School, and many other advisory committees. Pastor Tolbert has supported the total community -all while serving his people in Pastoral Ministry. An invitation was extended by Congressman Fred Upton to Pastor Bobby Joe and Henri’Etta Tolbert to attend President Bush’s Nation Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. February 1990. Pastor Bobby Joe Tolbert was an honored guest at a White House Briefing on President Clinton’s Crime Bill in Washington, D.C. April 1994. Dr. Tolbert served faithfully as Pastor of Bethel Baptist Church for thirty-six years. He was a member of the Three Rivers Rotary Club (past president); St. Joseph County Jury Board; Board of Directors of the First National Bank; Three Rivers Ministerial Fellowship; past President of the Chain Lake District Congress of Christian Education; President of the Wolverine Baptist Congress of Christian Education; Second-Vice President of the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education. Bobby Joe was preceded in death by both parents; nine siblings, five brothers and four sisters. He leaves to celebrate his “Home Going” his wife, Henri’Etta; two sons, Darryl Wayne (Connie) Reginald Fitzgerald (Victoria); six grandchildren, Wayne, Daniel, Jessica, Dylan, Brittany Marie and Joshua (who bears his nickname); four sisters, Mary Ella Bender, Ethel Crenshaw, Helen Tinker and Wilma Abrams. Friends may call Monday from 12 Noon until 9 p.m. at the Bethel Baptist Church, 17852 S. River Rd., Three Rivers. Bobby Joe Tolbert’s “Home Going” will be Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 11 a.m. at Bethel Baptist Church with Dr. Leroy Shelton, Pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church, Flint, Michigan, officiating. The family suggests memorials to Bethel Baptist Church or the Three Rivers Area Foundation. Envelopes will be available at the church. Arrangements are by the Hohner Funeral Home, Three Rivers.
