Question: What ever happened to the Rev. John H. Cross, who was pastor of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., when a bomb exploded and killed four little girls?
Answer: The Rev. John H. Cross Jr. died last November at the age of 82. Cross had been a Decatur, Ga., resident since 1972 and had been in failing health after suffering a series of strokes.
Cross was pastor at the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963 when a bomb went off minutes before the Sunday service, killing four young girls. In 1968, Cross became director of the Baptist Student Center at Alabama State University.
He moved to Decatur in 1972 to become associate pastor of Oakhurst Baptist Church. In 1977, he was named director of black-church relations for the Atlanta Baptist Association, a post he held until he retired in 1989.
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