Rev. Lester Basken of Whitehaven dies at 90; pastored one church for 44 years
He preached his first sermon on the third Sunday of January 1971.
A week later, the Rev. Lester Basken was called to pastor Middle Baptist Church in Whitehaven.
He would remain pastor of just one church for 44 years, until his retirement in 2015.
Now, that church has lost their pastor emeritus: Basken died Sunday at 90 years old.
“When people thought Middle Baptist, people thought of Rev. Dr. Lester Basken,” said the Rev. Elartrice Ingram Jr., the current pastor of Middle Baptist. “He was well known not only in the Whitehaven area but across Memphis and the state of Tennessee.”
Basken was a dynamic figure, his friends and family said, who quickly made friends of strangers.
During his 44 years as pastor of Middle Baptist, he grew the congregation from 250 people to around 4,000.
“He was a loving, caring, supportive, happy, joyful (person),” said Rondalyn Martin, his granddaughter. “He loved to joke. He loved people. He was just a people person. You wouldn’t enter a room without knowing him before you left the room.”
Basken valued the importance of education, using his church to aid children in the Whitehaven community.
He founded a summer jobs program where youth could find jobs at areas of interest in the community and the church would pay their salaries for the summer. A teen interested in becoming a doctor could get a summer job in a doctor’s office, for example. The program still goes on today.
The church offered ACT prep, a basketball program, a computer lab and more.
“He’d say, ‘Henry, people would rather see you live a sermon than preach a sermon,’” said Henry Baskin, Basken’s nephew. “He wanted his preaching to be seen in his everyday walk with Christ.”
His impact was known outside of the church as well: He worked as a counselor for the Shelby County Sheriff ’s Office, counseling young men who were incarcerated.
He was influential in getting the Bluecross Healthy Place at David Carnes Park, and advocated for the DMV to be renovated so people didn’t have to stand outside in all types of weather.
“He just really worked for Whitehaven. Not only Whitehaven, for Memphis. He was just that type of person,” said Irene Basken, his wife of 68 years. “He was a dynamic preacher, teacher. He taught, he walked the walk and he talked the talk. What he preached is what he lived.”
A veteran, Basken had served in South Korea. It was in the military that the spelling of his name mixed up, changing it from “Baskin” to “Basken.” He left the army with the new spelling and a bronze star.
Becoming a pastor after his discharge was a calling, his family said.
He was already active in his home church Mount Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church, where he was choir director, Sunday School teacher and superintendent of the Sunday School. He was also choir director of the Whitehaven District Choir and a member of the J.W. Hardaway Singers.
Under his leadership at Middle Baptist, the church built a new sanctuary, education building and family life center.
“He loved his wife, his family and his church and those were the three things he’d say I want to be remembered as,” Irene Basken said.
Basken also served as the moderator of the Whitehaven District Association, an association of churches.
And, for several years he was grand marshal of the Whitehaven Christmas Parade.
“There’s probably not too many people in Whitehaven who didn’t know of Rev. Dr. Basken,” Ingram said.
Basken will be remembered with a wake Friday from 4-7 p.m.and a funeral service Saturday at 11 a.m. both at Middle Baptist Church.