Former Macon minister Charles Houston, dies in dock accident at 77, remembered for being “thoughtful, a confidant”

A United Methodist Church minister who served in Macon in the early 2000s was one of seven people killed in a coastal Georgia dock collapse last weekend.

Charles Houston, a UMC minister and law enforcement chaplain who served from 2001 to 2004 at Riverside United Methodist Church, was killed when an aluminum gateway collapsed on Sapelo Island Saturday afternoon.

The dock gave way during a celebration of the island’s Gullah-Geechee community, descendants from enslaved Black Americans in the Southeast. In addition to seven deaths, eight people were injured and taken to the hospital, according to the Associated Press. 

The cause of the collapse is still under investigation.

Houston lived in Darien and worked under Caring Chaplaincy, a nonprofit providing chaplain services to law enforcement agencies in coastal, southeast Georgia, providing emotional and spiritual support to the families of deceased police officers.

Before coming to Macon, Houston was a pastor at churches around south Georgia, including Plains UMC, Centerville UMC, Richmond Hill UMC and Thomasville First UMC.

Houston served as Riverside United Methodist Church’s senior minister from 2001 to 2004. His picture hangs in the lobby.

Margaret Zimmerman, a Macon resident and volunteer at Riverside United Methodist Church, said she remembers Houston as being a “personable, caring person.” 

She’s been at the church since 1971, and Houston oversaw her father-in-law’s funeral. 

“He, weekly, would check in on my mother-in-law to see how she was doing,” Zimmerman said. “That pretty much sums up my thoughts of him, he was always thoughtful. He was a confidant, a person who cared about the members of the congregation.” 

Almost 20 years after leaving Macon, he would return occasionally to attend services.  Zimmerman reconnected with Houston at the South Georgia United Methodist Church Conference, where he remembered Zimmerman’s daughter and asked how she was doing.

Through Caring Chaplaincy, Houston would help law enforcement through tough times, and funds from the chaplain services would go toward paying for books for state troopers, gamekeepers and children.

Chip Strickland, a pastor who worked with Houston at the Department of Natural Resources and former minister at Riverside UMC, said Houston brought a level of excitement to his work that you wouldn’t expect from someone his age.

“His whole life was about serving and caring for people,” he said. “He was a victim in that he fell in during this tragedy, but in the midst of that he was still trying to help someone else, and that’s just indicative of who he was.”

Houston brought teddy bears to comfort the students at Apalachee High School following the September shooting.

Strickland said the loss leaves a “big void” for law enforcement in south and coastal Georgia.

Funeral services will be held Oct. 26 at 11 a.m. at Brunswick First United Methodist Church with visitation one hour prior to services.