Gospel preacher, editor of the Gospel Advocate, teacher and president of David Lipscomb College (Lipscomb University). Biographical Sketch On The Life Of H. Leo Boles --- Henry Leo Boles was born near Gainesboro in Jackson County. Tennessee, February 22, 1874, and died February 7, 1946. His parents were Jefferson and Sarah Smith Boles. His paternal grandmother was a daughter of "Raccoon'' John Smith and his mother was a great niece of Smith. His father and mother, therefore, were distant cousins. His father was a preacher of the gospel and belonged to the sturdy type of gospel preachers who loved the truth and preached it in humility, love and earnestness. His father was married three times and was the father of 18 children. He never saw all his children at home at the same time. H. Leo was the third of six children born to the first marriage. Boles married Miss Cynthia Cantrell in 1894 when he was 20 years of age. To this union a son, Cleo, was born on July 14. 1895. The young wife and mother lived only four days after the son was born. A sister of Boles took little Cleo and cared for him until his father was in a position to take him. Henry Leo Boles was baptized by W. T. Kidwill in a meeting at Olive Church of Christ in DeKalb County, Tennessee. September 27, 1895. Boles married Miss Ida Mae Meiser, of McMinnville, Tennessee, on September 23. 1906. To this marriage one son, Leo Lipscomb, was born. Leo Lipscomb was educated at David Lipscomb College, Vanderbilt University, and George Peabody College. He received his Ph.D. in 1941. As a student, Boles attended the public schools of White and DeKalb Counties in Tennessee. The school term was only four months each year. In 1892, he entered Shorter College of Mechanicsville. which was located near Short Mountain in Cannon County, Tennessee. This was not a college, as we use the term. but was equivalent to what we would call a high school. He remained there one year. It was here that he made his first public talk in a small debating society. For the next two years, circumstances were such that he had to stay home and work on the farm, except for teaching as an assistant for a few months in the Fall. For this work, he received $8.00 a month. He next entered Dibrell College, which is now Dibrell High School in Warren County, Tennessee. This school furnished him the best educational opportunities he had up to that time. In January, 1898, he entered Burritt College, Spencer, Tennessee. He graduated from Burritt College on June 3, 1900. After teaching four years in Tennessee and Texas, Boles entered Nashville Bible School on October 12, 1903. From this institution he graduated in the Spring of 1906. He received his M.A. degree from Vanderbilt University in 1920. H. Leo Boles was preeminently a teacher. In the fall of 1906, he became a member of the faculty of David Lipscomb College (then Nashville Bible School). While doing regular work as teacher, he took lessons daily in the Bible under the lamented David Lipscomb. For seven years he taught philosophy and mathematics but, on becoming president of David Lipscomb College in 1913, he began to give more and more time to teaching the Bible. It was a rare treat to attend his classes in logic, ethics, and evidences of Christianity. He taught his students the Bible-not merely some course related to the book, but the book itself. His students were taught to oppose all modernism, speculation and denominationalism. About 1,500 young preachers received instruction in his classes, besides hundreds of students who never became preachers. His greatest work was during the years that he served as teacher and president of David Lipscomb College. He was president from 1913 to 1920 and from 1923 to 1932. As teacher, president, and member of the Board of Trustees, he was associated with the college almost a third of a century. When he began preaching, he went out first to the hard places and preached to small congregations. In 1904, he held six meetings with 153 additions and received for the six meetings, $168.63. In 1905, he held 12 meetings with 170 additions and received $229.15. Of course, this was only the beginning. --Boles At The Age Of 50--His great ability, sincerity and devotion soon placed him before the largest congregations in the brotherhood. He was a voluminous writer. For almost 40 years, Boles wrote for the Gospel Advocate as contributor, editor and staff writer. He wrote commentaries on the gospel of Matthew, the book of Luke, and the book of Acts. He also wrote a book on the Holy Spirit. He engaged in public discussion on various subjects that faced the brotherhood. The Boles-Boll Debate on premillennialism has proved a source of valuable instruction for those confronted with the issue. He also engaged in the Boles-Clubb discussion which contains a great amount of discussion and information on instrumental music in the worship of the church. He also wrote a book on biographical sketches of gospel preachers and set before the brotherhood many great preachers that we had forgotten through the years. The Gospel Advocate devoted the entire issue of March 28, 1946, in honor of Henry Leo Boles. Seventy writers expressed their gratitude, love and appreciation for this great brother in Christ. It was in the early morning of February 7, 1946, his wife and Violet were awakened to hear his cry of pain. The doctor was summoned to come to the residence immediately. Nurses came to wait on him and they were joined by close neighbors of the Boles family. An attack of pneumonia had complicated his phlebitis, but he had overcome the pneumonia and was recovering from the other. B. C. Goodpasture and his wife, Cleveland, came over to be with their friend in his dying hours. On Thursday morning of that same day at 10:30 a.m., the soul of Henry Leo Boles took wings. The funeral services of H. Leo Boles were conducted at the Grace Avenue Church in Nashville, on February 9, 1946, at 10:30 a.m. He had preached his last sermon at the Grace Avenue Church just one month before his death on the subject - "The Unfinished Prayer." For thirty years he had preached at Grace Avenue the first Sunday of every month when he was in the city. He had left a sealed request that his funeral services were to be conducted by N. B. Hardeman, S. H. Hall, and B. C. Goodpasture. The congregational singing was led by Mack Wayne Craig who was then preacher for the Reid Avenue Church and is now Dean of David Lipscomb College. H. Leo Boles was buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville. The simple words 'At Home' mark his last earthly resting place. Sister Ida Meiser Boles outlived her husband by nine years. -In Memoriam, Gussie Lambert, Shreveport, LA pgs.24-27.