Beloved husband, father, grandfather, gifted preacher and pastor Pinckney Chambers Enniss, Jr., passed away October 8, 2024, in the presence of his wife of sixty-nine years, Jane Enniss.
Pinckney Chambers Enniss, Jr. was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on October 16, 1931, to Pinckney Chambers Enniss, Sr. (1894-1972), and Minnie Paschal Enniss (1902-2002). He graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 1949 and attended Davidson College where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in economics in 1953. Following college, he fulfilled two years of active duty service in the United States Army and during that time met, fell in love with and married Martha Jane Wildman (m. June 11, 1955). After that service, the young couple moved to Decatur, Georgia, where “Buddy,” as he was known to his friends, entered Columbia Theological Seminary in the fall of 1955 and earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1958. He would complete another eighteen years in the Army Reserves, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
While still a student at Columbia Theological Seminary, he was invited to serve as a student pastor for the newly formed Hillside Presbyterian Church in a rapidly growing part of DeKalb County. On graduation from Columbia, he was ordained and served as Hillside’s first pastor, and he served in that role from 1958-1967. It was a period of great social change, and, following the bombing of the Atlanta synagogue The Temple, he was one of the signers of the Ministers Manifesto, “Out of Conviction: A Second Statement on the South’s Racial Crisis,” calling for interracial dialogue and understanding. He led Hillside in an inclusive manner during a period of segregation and invited Lawrence Bottoms, the first African American Moderator of the General Assembly, PCUS, to preach, and hosted the Stillman College Choir from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Known for his powerful preaching, he consistently challenged his congregations to live up to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, vision of the beloved community.
Their first son, David (b. 1956), was born during the seminary years and Stephen (b. 1959), following graduation while the family’s life revolved around the congregation of the “the church on the hill,” as it was called. During his ministry, Hillside undertook three building programs, and the congregation grew to more than five hundred members.
From 1967-1970 he served as pastor of Meadowview Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, before accepting a call to be senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Tallahassee, Florida (1970-1976). The year he and his family moved to Tallahassee, 1970, he received his Masters of Theology degree from Columbia Theological Seminary, where he wrote his thesis on The Sources of Martin Luther King’s Theology.
In 1976 he answered a call to serve Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta. During his thirteen-year ministry at Central he advocated for the church’s vital role in the life of the city. He opened pathways for women to serve in leadership roles, and Central was the first large church in the Atlanta Presbytery to call a woman, Joanna Adams, as Associate Pastor in 1978. He was invited by Mayor Andrew Young to serve on a Civilian Review Board examining charges of police use of excessive force, long before the Black Lives Matter Movement. He, with the support of Joanna Adams, opened the church’s gymnasium as a homeless shelter, and he was a founding member of Congregations for Affordable Housing, and Chair of the Atlanta Presbytery’s Campaign for Compassion. During his ministry, His alma mater, Davidson College recognized him with an honorary Doctorate of Divinity in 1988, and the following year he received the Martin Luther King, Sr., Community Service Award for service to the city.
After thirteen years of loyal service to the church in the city, he accepted a call to serve as Senior Pastor of The Reformed Church of Bronxville, New York (1989-1997). In each church he served, he brought an ecumenical spirit to his ministry, and in Bronxville he worked to bring together Westchester’s Christian and Jewish communities. After a swastika was found on the wall of the Bronxville train station, he and Bronxville mayor, Sheila Stein, invited the Jewish community to hold a Holocaust Interfaith Service at the Reformed Church. The Bronxville community packed the church for that first-of-its-kind service, and he served on the Westchester Holocaust Commission for the next six years.
Upon retirement, he and Jane returned to Atlanta, where he held the appointment of Theologian in Residence at Trinity Presbyterian Church (1997-2010). Over the years, he held numerous volunteer service roles and served on the Boards of Eckerd College, Queens College, Union Theological Seminary, and Columbia Theological Seminary. In 2002, Columbia Theological Seminary honored him with its Distinguished Service Award for outstanding service to the church. His was a prophetic voice during a time of great societal change and the ongoing pursuit for social justice.
To his family, he was a beloved husband, father and a loving grandfather to Harris Pinckney Enniss and Rebecca Clare Enniss. His family’s grief is too large for words.
He is survived by his wife, Jane, his life partner, and co-pastor in each of their church homes; by his two sons and their wives, David and Jane, and Stephen and Lucy; and by two grandchildren, Harris and Rebecca.
The world is a better place for his presence in our lives, for his intellect, his humor, his moral grounding, and his unwavering commitment to social justice. His family is most grateful for his love and his example of a life lived in search of wholeness in a broken world.
A celebration of his life will be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, at 11:00. Gifts in his memory may be directed to the Central Presbyterian Church Outreach and Advocacy Center, Columbia Theological Seminary, or the Agape Youth and Family Center.