Church Builder, Dairy Founder Oldham Dies

Funeral services for Morris C. Oldham, 69-year-old founder of the Phenix dairy whose fortune helped him build more than 300
churches throughtout the nation, will be held at 4pm Thursday at the Second Baptist Church, 2410 Milam St.
The Rev. H.R. Yount, associate pasttor will officiate. Entombment will be in the Forest Park Mausoleum of Geo. H. Lewis &
Sons.
Mr. Oldham, a quiet spoken man who started with one horse and one wagon and became a millionaire, died at 3:15 AM
Tuesday at his home, 2508 Pelham Drive. He is survived by his wodow, Mrs. Elene Oldham, and a neice Mrs. J.B. Cox of
Waldron, Ark.
A Native of Springfield, Ohio, Mr. Oldham first came to Houston 41 years ago. He was a member of numerous organizations,
out of all the activities in which he took part, the layman's church work was the most importnat to him.
Mr. Oldham was a charter member, a deacon, a member of the finance committee and a member of the Forum Bible Class
at the Second Baptist Church, but his influence extended for beyond the realm of one congregation.
It has been estimated that the layman spent more than $3 million helping small churches get started. In spite of that fact
however, he shunned publicity and even many Houstonians was virtually unknown.
He was a man who gave freely but wisely and drove a Plymouth instead of a Cadillac. And in working with the churches,
some of them as far away as Alaska and Paris, France, he established the Oldham Little Church Foundation.
The organization has a board of six directors and a secretary, but neither Mr. Oldham nor any directors received a salary. He
paid for the secretary.
The Foundation's work work is done through three main areas of endeavor:
The first is a program in which the churches of less than 300 members were given outright, with no premese of re-
payment;sums of $1000 or less to help them get started. This one phase of activity alone cost more than $75,000 in one
year.
The Second Phase was one in which Mr. Oldham paid a pastors salary to help a church get it's full-time misistry organized.
And the third, started only recently, was one in which Mr. Oldham hired a religious specialist to conduct soul-winning
classes and stay as long as necessary. Mr. Oldham paid his salary.
In addition to his efforts to help congregations, however, the layman often said that he was not so much interested in
buildings as he was in seeing members of the churches carry out the Great Commandment to "go into all the world and
preach the gospel."
Mr. Oldham regared the buildings as primarily the means toward an end.
Although He was a Southern Baptist, the dairyman did not confine his contributions to the churches of that denomination
alone. His gifts were received by members of several other faiths as well and his own philosophy was "saved to serve
and saved to give."
Among the Houston-area churches which owe their start to Mr. Oldham are the Glen Rose Baptist at 5621 Airline Drive, the
Second Baptist Church at Jacinto City and the Oldham Memorial Baptist at 4002 Holmes Road.
He has been called "God's man doing God's will."
Mr. Oldham was also a former member of the board of the Palacios Baptist EnCampment;former president of the Houston
Boy and Girl Builders; a former director of City National Bank;a member of the executive committee for the Boy Scouts
Council Board for the Sam Houston Area; a past director of the Downtown Rotary Club and a former director and vice-
president of the Star of Hope Mission.
Mr. Oldham started his dairy work here with one horse and one wagon, and typically he kept the horse and cared for him
many years after his ability to do any work was past.
Choosing the name of the bird which was a symbol of immortality to the ancient Egyptions, Mr. Oldham organized the
Phenix Dairy in 1914. In 1933, he reduced the price of the firm's shares to one0half and sold them to its employees.
He retired as chairman of the board in 1952 when Phenix was merged with Foremost Dairies.

Back To Obituaries

Back To Wharton County Research Index