Rev. Wallace "Wally" Alden Varnell

The Reverend Dr. Wallace Alden Varnell, current and founding pastor of Cleveland Cowboy Church, went to meet his Lord and Savior on July 14, 2022 after a short illness. He has been pastoring the Cowboy Church for the past 14 years. Lovingly called “Pastor Wally” or “Brother Wally”, this unassuming, gentle man was a well-known minister and servant of the Lord for decades, having served as minister of music, assistant pastor, and then pastor of Calvary Baptist Church before ministering to the stewardship needs of churches across the country. While at Calvary Baptist Church, he was a pioneer in the Christian School movement of the 1970s, with the church helping lead the fight for Christian education in the state, as well as starting the first integrated-faculty Christian school in Cleveland. He initiated the development of a bus ministry that carried more than 132,000 riders to church over a 10 year period and the church led the Southern Baptist Convention in baptisms and church growth by membership with more than 100 baptisms in a single year. He also received a Doctorate from Florida Bible College and released a solo album of gospel songs as a fundraiser for the Women's Missionary Union. The Lord changed his ministry and Wally began doing stewardship development at churches across the country - first with Cargill and Associates - and then through founding his own company, Stewardship Development Ministries. More recently Wally pastored New Horizons Baptist Church and Cleveland Cowboy Church. He has played guitar at the Cowboy Gospel Jubilee every Friday night since its inception in 2010. Wally met the love of his life, Betty Jane Hullander of Apison, at the Avondale Community Center in Chattanooga and the couple were married for nearly 62 years until her passing in 2015. Together they enjoyed attending fairs, music events and other venues of various kinds but especially quilting shows, as Betty was an accomplished quilter and had her own quilt shop.Wally was a talented guitar player in the style of Merle Travis. In his younger days, he was in the Air Force air traffic control program stationed in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he picked and sang on the base radio station each Saturday. Locally, he played with The Country Boys Band at local shows and on the radio. Wally was also an avid fastpitch softball third baseman and later coached church league slow pitch softball teams. Wally is survived by four grown children, Elaine (Tommy) Caldwell of Cleveland and Darlene Poteet widow of the late Steve Poteet of Cleveland, as well as two sons, Larry Varnell of Chattanooga, and Don (Freda Johnson) Varnell of Ooltewah, as well as eleven grandchildren and 20 great grandchildren. Wally was preceded in death by his parents, Ralph A. Varnell and Rilla Mae (Miller) (Varnell) Wotring, both of Chattanooga, and by two siblings, sister, Sue (Varnell) (Brewer) Daniel, and brother, Lee Roy Varnell both of Florida. A Celebration of Life service will be held at the Cleveland Cowboy Church, 3040 Blythe Rd. SE, in the Dockery Community, Thursday, July 21st at 7:00 p.m., with the Rev. Phil Taylor and Rev. Mark Deakins officiating. Greg McDougal and John Bleasdale will provide music. The family will receive friends from 6:00 pm. to 7:00 pm at the church. Memorials may be made to Cleveland Cowboy Church.Read Obituary