Ray Warren Lathem, III was born on October 19, 1975 in Atlanta, Ga. He is the
first-born son of Dr. R. Warren Lathem, Jr. and Jane Baird Lathem of Alphareta,
Ga. Ray was a gifted student, singer and poet. He had a great love of nature and
spent much of his time hiking and camping. The summer before his needless and
tragic death he had hitch-hiked across America, from Georgia to New Jersey to
Redding, California.
At the time of his death, he was returning from a
Christian mission trip to Venezuela. He had accompanied his friend and
colleague, Carlos Gonzalez and Roger and Dana Lane, all friends and active
participants in the Mt. Pisgah
United Methodist Church, where his father is
the pastor. Carlos was the Minister to Missions and Hispanics at Mt. Pisgah.
Roger and Dana were teachers of English as a second language in the Hispanic
Ministry with Carlos. Ray played the congas in the Hispanic band at the Saturday
worship service. He had a deep passion for the ministry with Hispanics. The trip
to Venezuela was to be the first of several designed to establish an evangelical
Christian ministry there. Carlos, a native, was to begin seminary in the fall of
1996 and planned to return home as a missionary of the United Methodist Church.
Roger and Dana Lane planned to return toVenezuela to teach for a term of two
years. While their first trip was brief, they did assist with the construction
of the first Methodist Church in the country. Ironically, returning to the U.S.
with her uncle was Lela Violeta, thirteen year old niece of Carlos. She was
being sent here for her safety.
Ray had committed himself to Christian
ministry and had preached his first sermon at his father's church just one month
before his death. He ended his auto-biographical sermon on the Prodigal Son by
singing "Amazing Grace." He was known by all to be an intelligent, devoted,
fun-loving young man.
His intelligent and poignant poetry was recognized
with a number of awards. One of the eerily prophetic ones was given to us a year
after his death by his girlfriend. It is untitled and was written in
1992:
"If I could wear another's burden
Dress myself in all their
pain
If I could feel the grief over the loss of a son
I would have not
have lived in vain."
Ray Lathem
One of his published poems is:
lullaby
"I remember safety
security
I remember a
feeling so strong
At times I couldn't sleep
And then as quickly as it
had begun
my love was ended.
Leaving a pit of constant turmoil
That i
feared would engulf me.
my sanity lost its hold
And i slipped into the
chasm
Leaving me exposed to the whims of the world
i became what i
feared most
A monster leaving nothing
But pain and resentment in my
wake
I trampled over emotions
destroyed dreams
I was vengeful and
full of spite
I was a god and had no room for others
I heard the cries
of those above me
screaming into my cell
I saw them reaching for
me
trying to salvage my soul
To fall was simple
It required
little
To rise up seemed impossible
And so i stayed in my
hole
finding comfort
Losing all memory of what i had before
That which
kept the pit closed for so long
And continued on towards oblivion
But
then in the mist of my destruction
i heard a single solitary voice
Singing
sweetly and soft...
a lullaby
and there is hope."
Ray Lathem
Ray was a source of great joy to his mother and father and
brother, Jared. He was loved by so many that over 3000 people attended his
memorial service. He will never be forgotten and we will see him in Heaven. Of
that we are sure because he knew and trusted in the saving grace of Jesus as do
we. "Because He lives we shall live also."
