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Doctor who served 3 decades at Southeastern dies at 73


WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)–James R. Moseley, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s physician for the past three decades, died at his home in the early morning hours of Nov 25 from heart failure. He was 73.

Moseley, a former missionary to Nigeria, Africa, had served as Southeastern’s physician since 1969. Funeral services were held Nov. 28 at Wake Forest Baptist Church, Wake Forest, N.C., where he had been a member for many years.

For 30 years, Moseley treated retired and current faculty, staff and students in the seminary community, diagnosing illnesses and prescribing medications for patients from newborns to the elderly.

But Norma May, who has worked for 24 years as a registered nurse alongside Moseley in the seminary clinic as well as in his private family practice, said the longtime seminary physician ministered to his patients’ emotional and spiritual needs as much as he did their physical ailments.

“He felt like he identified with [the seminary patients] because he knew the hardships they were going through,” May said.

Moseley and his wife, Myra, served as missionaries for five years in Nigeria before coming to Southeastern Seminary.

Southeastern’s president, Paige Patterson, said Moseley’s service to the seminary has been immeasurable. “Boys and girls long since grown to adulthood who would not even know Dr. Moseley’s name nevertheless owe much of their health and that of their parents to this gracious and godly physician, who for more than 30 years carried out a labor of love at costs that even students could afford,” Patterson said. “To say that Southeastern Seminary will miss him would be the definition of understatement.”

Moseley received both his bachelor of science degree and medical degree from the University of Alabama. He also attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., 1961-62 to prepare for the mission field.

A native of Thomasville, Ala., Moseley is survived by his wife of 49 years, as well as a daughter, Anne Cullen, of Louisburg, N.C.; sons John David of Elmira, N.Y., and Paul of Raleigh, N.C.; and 11 grandchildren.

Among his many honors and awards over his three decades of practicing medicine, Moseley received the “Humanitarian of the Year Award” in 1997 from Wake Medical Center, Raleigh.

    About the Author

  • Lee Weeks