George Marvin Atkinson, a pilgrim follower of Jesus of Nazareth, died on September 13, 2026. He was born on January 22, 1936, at Memorial Hospital, Houston, Texas, to Albert Burnett Atkinson and Nora Marie Downey Atkinson. His father's parents were Arthur Burnett Atkinson (later known to the family as William John Cunningham Atkinson) and Rachel Scott Atkinson of St. John's, Newfoundland. His mother's parents were John William Downey and Nettie Leora Smith Downey of Bromide, Oklahoma. George's brothers are Ronald John Atkinson and Robert Douglas Atkinson. George's half-brothers are Albert B. Atkinson, Jr. (deceased), and Edward Scott Atkinson. George is survived by his wife, Jan C. Atkinson, children Jennifer C. Atkinson and Geoffrey M. Atkinson, and grandchildren, Jordan C. Hernandez, Ryan A. Hernandez, Campbell Atkinson, Anna Atkinson, Vivienne Atkinson, and Preston Atkinson.
George attended Love Elem., Hamilton Jr. High, and Reagan Sr. High, graduating in 1953. His skill in debate led to a scholarship to Columbia University. During college he changed his vocational goal from law to teaching, and, graduating with an A.B. in 1957, he pursued a Master's degree at Teachers College, Columbia.
From 1958 to 1963 he taught American history, government, and economics at Bellaire High School in Houston. He also coached the boys swimming team, which won the state championship in 1960. During this time he began questioning the direction of his life again, and entered Perkins School of Theology, SMU, to explore his vocation there. Persuaded that his gifts lay in teaching, but that his interests lay in religion (or, The Meaning of Life, he said, with his usual melodramatic exaggeration), he finished the ministerial degree (Bachelor of Divinity) and began a Ph.D. in religion at SMU.
At Perkins he met and married Jan Carolyn Clark, his dear beloved wife of 61 years. In 1965 he was ordained into the ministry of the Church in the United Methodist tradition. After a 2-year teaching appointment at St. Paul School of Theology, he taught for 1 ½ years at Tennessee Wesleyan College. Jan and George returned to SMU in January, 1974, with two small children, Jennifer Catherine and Geoffrey Matthew, so that George could complete the dissertation. In September of 1974 he took an appointment as Associate Pastor at First UMC in Athens, Texas. After several revisions, his dissertation was accepted, and he received his Ph.D. in 1975 (Thesis: The Concept of Christian Hope in Karl Barth's Die Kirchliche Dogmatik). Briefly saddened that no college or seminary at this time seemed to want a new teacher who was not younger, female, or a person of color, he nevertheless willingly adjusted his vocational direction again, from the academy to the parish.
From 1975 to 1996 he served as Pastor to churches in Coldspring, Shepherd, Goodrich, Rusk, St. John's (Baytown), Grace United Methodist (Houston), Chapelwood (Lake Jackson), and Westbury (Houston). He served as interim pastor of Canterbury (Houston) for three months in 2004. Perkins School of Theology opened a branch campus in Houston in 1995, and in 1996 George was asked to be its administrative Director, serving there for 8 years. He also supervised interns and some continuing education programs for clergy andlaity. Perkins used him for an additional year as associate director of Global Theological Education.
George served on several boards and committees of the United Methodist Texas Annual Conference in the areas of ministry, education, missions, and worship, and he was a delegate to national and regional conferences to legislate for the United Methodist Church or to elect its bishops. He taught in the various schools and workshops of the Annual Conference on such topics as Interpreting the Bible; Understanding the Christian Faith; Introduction to Islam; Images and Understandings of God; and United Methodist Doctrine. He was deeply involved in the mission work of the church, locally and abroad, organizing conferences and serving on mission teams to Mexico, Russia, and Viet Nam. He preached the inaugural sermon at the Wesley Theological College in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in 2007 and taught United Methodist Polity to 22 local pastors there for a week.
Some of George's academic contributions include these publications and public lectures:
Presentation, "The Christian Understanding of Forgiveness," Jewish-Christian Dialogue, Texas Conference of Churches, April, 2007; Presentation, "Approaching Religious Diversity," for Muslim students, Rice University, Nov. 16, 2006; Chair/Discussant, Second Annual Conference on Islam in the Contemporary World: the Fethullah Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice, Nov. 3-5, 2006, U. of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.; Lecture, "The Influence of Protestantism on American Culture; with special attention to the rise of fundamentalism in the early 20th century, and in view of the religious perspectives of Carlisle Floyd (1926- ) in his operatic works." Unpublished. Conference on Carlisle Floyd, May 26, 2006. Kingwood College, Houston, TX.; Book, Outler on the Holy Spirit: The Pneumatology of Albert Cook Outler (Anderson, Indiana: Bristol Books, 2004). A volume in the Albert Outler Library; Lecture, "History and Culture in the United States: or, Why Americans Are the Way We Are," unpublished, for Partners in Peace Conference, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia, October, 1996; Article, "Alternative Worship—Are We for it? Is it for Us?" WORSHIP ARTS, July-Aug., 1994, pp. 3-6.
Always active in community, ecumenical, and interfaith activities, George became openly an activist in the Democratic Party, from 2007-present; a volunteer and advocate, Health Care for All Texas, 2008-present; a volunteer, Taping for the Blind, 2006-2008; participated in planning with Rothko Chapel associates on several interfaith events, since 1984; represented Christians with remarks on fasting at the Mayor's Iftar, 2003, Houston, celebrating the end of the Muslim Feast of Ramadan; chaired the Ecumenical Program and Worship committee (of 17 denominations) for the Millennium Celebration of Christianity, Houston, 1999; served on the Ad hoc committee for the Houston area Bonhoeffer observance, 1999-2000; served on the planning team for the National Workshop on Christian-Jewish Relations, Oct. 1999; the planning Committee, Jewish-Christian Institute, Temple Beth Israel, 1996-1999; the Biomedical Ethics Committee, Methodist Hospital, Houston, 1986-1998; Perkins Alumni Council, 1990-1994; awarded "Distinguished Perkins Alumnus, 1992"; represented The United Methodist Church at a prayer service for peace with the Dalai Lama at Rothko Chapel, 1991; led Ministerial Alliance disaster response to Hurricane Alicia in Baytown, 1983; served as the UMC representative, first Interfaith Holocaust Observances, Temple Emanu-El, Houston, 1987, 1988, 1998; served on the planning team for the first and subsequent Jewish-Christian-Muslim Thanksgiving Celebrations in Houston, Rothko Chapel, since 1985; helped plan the First Christian-Muslim Workshops on Common Concerns, Houston, 1985, 1987; invited as UMC representative to the public Eucharist of Pope John Paul II in San Antonio, 1987; invited UMC representative to the installations of Roman Catholic bishops in Houston, 1985; Austin, 1986; organized ecumenical discussion of Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry in Houston area, 1984; provided worship leadership for Texas Faith and Order Conferences, 1984, 1985, 1987, and for the Assembly of the Texas Conference of Churches, 1985; attended World Council of Churches Assembly in Vancouver, 1983, and concurrent Bellingham Forum; led health-care program development in San Jacinto and Cherokee Counties, 1976-1979; and in 1965 he marched across the Pettus Bridge at Selma with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
(From remarks at retirement)
What have I not yet learned? To trust God so consistently that I give up what I perceive as my rational control of my life, and throw myself completely into God's future. This is a mark of my pride, which also takes the deceptive form of affecting modesty and humility, while secretly believing that I am somehow more special than others. I continue to need the Spirit's help in "breaking the power of canceled sin." I have also not yet learned courage, or, that "perfect love casts out fear." I have failed to speak or act or be what God has gifted me to be on too many occasions, because I was afraid. I am still trying to learn these things. (quoting Barbara Brown Taylor) "All I know is [the One] whom I love, and how far I have to go before there is no one left whom I do not love. If I am wrong, then I figure that the Word of God will know what to do with me. I am betting on that."
(The following is copied and edited from some remarks submitted for my 50th college reunion journal.) Jan won't let me submit this to you unless I add some things that speak more positively and personally about my character. It's not just deeds, she says, but virtue that counts. I guess she's right; but, again, it looks a bit pretentious.
Okay: She says I am a good husband, father, grandfather, and friend; a good teacher, a good pastor, a good counselor, and a good administrator; and I have touched positively the lives of hundreds of people. I have helped them come to some appreciation of Transcendence—that is, God's presence—within their lives, and I have offered encouragement and hope to many. Jan reminds me that all these countless and nameless saints are my real medals and victories, and that I should not poor-mouth myself to others who may not know the inside of classroom or parish life or ecumenical and interfaith relations. She also says I'm a good preacher and theologian and that I have helped a lot of people understand both the humble and the arcane aspects of religion. Jan says that this is not enough, but it's a start—so I'll stop.
Services
George Marvin Atkinson, a pilgrim follower of Jesus of Nazareth, died on September 13, 2026. He was born on January 22, 1936, at Memorial Hospital, Houston, Texas, to Albert Burnett Atkinson and Nora Marie Downey Atkinson. His father's parents were Arthur Burnett Atkinson (later known to the family as William John Cunningham Atkinson) and Rachel Scott Atkinson of St. John's, Newfoundland. His mother's parents were John William Downey and Nettie Leora Smith Downey of Bromide, Oklahoma. George's brothers are Ronald John Atkinson and Robert Douglas Atkinson. George's half-brothers are Albert B. Atkinson, Jr. (deceased), and Edward Scott Atkinson. George is survived by his wife, Jan C. Atkinson, children Jennifer C. Atkinson and Geoffrey M. Atkinson, and grandchildren, Jordan C. Hernandez, Ryan A. Hernandez, Campbell Atkinson, Anna Atkinson, Vivienne Atkinson, and Preston Atkinson.
George attended Love Elem., Hamilton Jr. High, and Reagan Sr. High, graduating in 1953. His skill in debate led to a scholarship to Columbia University. During college he changed his vocational goal from law to teaching, and, graduating with an A.B. in 1957, he pursued a Master's degree at Teachers College, Columbia.
From 1958 to 1963 he taught American history, government, and economics at Bellaire High School in Houston. He also coached the boys swimming team, which won the state championship in 1960. During this time he began questioning the direction of his life again, and entered Perkins School of Theology, SMU, to explore his vocation there. Persuaded that his gifts lay in teaching, but that his interests lay in religion (or, The Meaning of Life, he said, with his usual melodramatic exaggeration), he finished the ministerial degree (Bachelor of Divinity) and began a Ph.D. in religion at SMU.
At Perkins he met and married Jan Carolyn Clark, his dear beloved wife of 61 years. In 1965 he was ordained into the ministry of the Church in the United Methodist tradition. After a 2-year teaching appointment at St. Paul School of Theology, he taught for 1 ½ years at Tennessee Wesleyan College. Jan and George returned to SMU in January, 1974, with two small children, Jennifer Catherine and Geoffrey Matthew, so that George could complete the dissertation. In September of 1974 he took an appointment as Associate Pastor at First UMC in Athens, Texas. After several revisions, his dissertation was accepted, and he received his Ph.D. in 1975 (Thesis: The Concept of Christian Hope in Karl Barth's Die Kirchliche Dogmatik). Briefly saddened that no college or seminary at this time seemed to want a new teacher who was not younger, female, or a person of color, he nevertheless willingly adjusted his vocational direction again, from the academy to the parish.
From 1975 to 1996 he served as Pastor to churches in Coldspring, Shepherd, Goodrich, Rusk, St. John's (Baytown), Grace United Methodist (Houston), Chapelwood (Lake Jackson), and Westbury (Houston). He served as interim pastor of Canterbury (Houston) for three months in 2004. Perkins School of Theology opened a branch campus in Houston in 1995, and in 1996 George was asked to be its administrative Director, serving there for 8 years. He also supervised interns and some continuing education programs for clergy andlaity. Perkins used him for an additional year as associate director of Global Theological Education.
George served on several boards and committees of the United Methodist Texas Annual Conference in the areas of ministry, education, missions, and worship, and he was a delegate to national and regional conferences to legislate for the United Methodist Church or to elect its bishops. He taught in the various schools and workshops of the Annual Conference on such topics as Interpreting the Bible; Understanding the Christian Faith; Introduction to Islam; Images and Understandings of God; and United Methodist Doctrine. He was deeply involved in the mission work of the church, locally and abroad, organizing conferences and serving on mission teams to Mexico, Russia, and Viet Nam. He preached the inaugural sermon at the Wesley Theological College in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in 2007 and taught United Methodist Polity to 22 local pastors there for a week.
Some of George's academic contributions include these publications and public lectures:
Presentation, "The Christian Understanding of Forgiveness," Jewish-Christian Dialogue, Texas Conference of Churches, April, 2007; Presentation, "Approaching Religious Diversity," for Muslim students, Rice University, Nov. 16, 2006; Chair/Discussant, Second Annual Conference on Islam in the Contemporary World: the Fethullah Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice, Nov. 3-5, 2006, U. of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.; Lecture, "The Influence of Protestantism on American Culture; with special attention to the rise of fundamentalism in the early 20th century, and in view of the religious perspectives of Carlisle Floyd (1926- ) in his operatic works." Unpublished. Conference on Carlisle Floyd, May 26, 2006. Kingwood College, Houston, TX.; Book, Outler on the Holy Spirit: The Pneumatology of Albert Cook Outler (Anderson, Indiana: Bristol Books, 2004). A volume in the Albert Outler Library; Lecture, "History and Culture in the United States: or, Why Americans Are the Way We Are," unpublished, for Partners in Peace Conference, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia, October, 1996; Article, "Alternative Worship—Are We for it? Is it for Us?" WORSHIP ARTS, July-Aug., 1994, pp. 3-6.
Always active in community, ecumenical, and interfaith activities, George became openly an activist in the Democratic Party, from 2007-present; a volunteer and advocate, Health Care for All Texas, 2008-present; a volunteer, Taping for the Blind, 2006-2008; participated in planning with Rothko Chapel associates on several interfaith events, since 1984; represented Christians with remarks on fasting at the Mayor's Iftar, 2003, Houston, celebrating the end of the Muslim Feast of Ramadan; chaired the Ecumenical Program and Worship committee (of 17 denominations) for the Millennium Celebration of Christianity, Houston, 1999; served on the Ad hoc committee for the Houston area Bonhoeffer observance, 1999-2000; served on the planning team for the National Workshop on Christian-Jewish Relations, Oct. 1999; the planning Committee, Jewish-Christian Institute, Temple Beth Israel, 1996-1999; the Biomedical Ethics Committee, Methodist Hospital, Houston, 1986-1998; Perkins Alumni Council, 1990-1994; awarded "Distinguished Perkins Alumnus, 1992"; represented The United Methodist Church at a prayer service for peace with the Dalai Lama at Rothko Chapel, 1991; led Ministerial Alliance disaster response to Hurricane Alicia in Baytown, 1983; served as the UMC representative, first Interfaith Holocaust Observances, Temple Emanu-El, Houston, 1987, 1988, 1998; served on the planning team for the first and subsequent Jewish-Christian-Muslim Thanksgiving Celebrations in Houston, Rothko Chapel, since 1985; helped plan the First Christian-Muslim Workshops on Common Concerns, Houston, 1985, 1987; invited as UMC representative to the public Eucharist of Pope John Paul II in San Antonio, 1987; invited UMC representative to the installations of Roman Catholic bishops in Houston, 1985; Austin, 1986; organized ecumenical discussion of Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry in Houston area, 1984; provided worship leadership for Texas Faith and Order Conferences, 1984, 1985, 1987, and for the Assembly of the Texas Conference of Churches, 1985; attended World Council of Churches Assembly in Vancouver, 1983, and concurrent Bellingham Forum; led health-care program development in San Jacinto and Cherokee Counties, 1976-1979; and in 1965 he marched across the Pettus Bridge at Selma with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
(From remarks at retirement)
What have I not yet learned? To trust God so consistently that I give up what I perceive as my rational control of my life, and throw myself completely into God's future. This is a mark of my pride, which also takes the deceptive form of affecting modesty and humility, while secretly believing that I am somehow more special than others. I continue to need the Spirit's help in "breaking the power of canceled sin." I have also not yet learned courage, or, that "perfect love casts out fear." I have failed to speak or act or be what God has gifted me to be on too many occasions, because I was afraid. I am still trying to learn these things. (quoting Barbara Brown Taylor) "All I know is [the One] whom I love, and how far I have to go before there is no one left whom I do not love. If I am wrong, then I figure that the Word of God will know what to do with me. I am betting on that."
(The following is copied and edited from some remarks submitted for my 50th college reunion journal.) Jan won't let me submit this to you unless I add some things that speak more positively and personally about my character. It's not just deeds, she says, but virtue that counts. I guess she's right; but, again, it looks a bit pretentious.
Okay: She says I am a good husband, father, grandfather, and friend; a good teacher, a good pastor, a good counselor, and a good administrator; and I have touched positively the lives of hundreds of people. I have helped them come to some appreciation of Transcendence—that is, God's presence—within their lives, and I have offered encouragement and hope to many. Jan reminds me that all these countless and nameless saints are my real medals and victories, and that I should not poor-mouth myself to others who may not know the inside of classroom or parish life or ecumenical and interfaith relations. She also says I'm a good preacher and theologian and that I have helped a lot of people understand both the humble and the arcane aspects of religion. Jan says that this is not enough, but it's a start—so I'll stop.
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