Gregory Freeman: Packnett Touched Many Lives, Stood Up For Important Causes. PD 12/20/1996

Headline: PACKNETT TOUCHED MANY LIVES, STOOD UP FOR IMPORTANT CAUSES
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Fri., Dec. 20, 1996
Section: WAR PAGE, Page: 21C, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

THERE'S A void today at Del Monico's Diner.

The Rev. Ronald Packnett, pastor of Central Baptist Church, was a fixture at the restaurant. He could be found at the restaurant at Delmar Boulevard and Euclid Avenue almost every morning, chowing down on one of their hearty pancakes-and-sausage breakfasts. And he had a passion for Del Monico's fried chicken legs. Packnett, who died Tuesday at 45 after a long illness, called restaurant matriarch Eva Bobo his mother away from home. His mother lives in Chicago.

The Rev. Gary Tyler was busy working at Del Monico's on Tuesday when he learned of Packnett's death. He said Packnett was his mentor. "I was an associate pastor at Greater Paradise, " Tyler said. "Rev. Packnett heard me preach and invited me to his church to speak. Before I knew it, I was speaking there all the time."
Packnett got Tyler, 31, the training he needed, and installed him at Central Baptist.
Other employees and customers overheard our conversation and joined in. "Rev. Packnett? He married me, " one man called out. "He baptized me, " yelled another.

Bobo couldn't say enough about him. "He helped my granddaughter, " she said. "He carried her to church every Sunday, and he had her involved in everything."
   Packnett loved young people. "He'd always make sure the youth could take part in the National Baptist Convention every year, " Tyler said.
   "That's right, " added Bobo, "my granddaughter got to go places she never could have gone."
   "San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, wherever the convention was held, he always made sure that young people could go, " Tyler said. "And then he made sure that they weren't just running around when they got to those cities. They always had some kind of class, and they went to places like churches and historical sites."

Some spoke of programs he had set up through the church, including one that provided clothes and lunch for the homeless every Tuesday, and a "Rites of Passage" African heritage program. Others talked about the hours he spent visiting sick church members at hospitals and in their homes.

If there's one thing a journalist learns early, it's that there are phonies and there are real articles. Packnett was the real article.
While he often rubbed shoulders with mayors and congressmen and powerful people, he was clearly as much at ease with average people and willing to help anyone. Like the day the restaurant was shorthanded. Packnett took off his coat, went to the kitchen and cheerfully pitched in to wash dishes.

At 5 feet, 6 inches, Packnett wasn't tall in stature. But he was tall in the minds of those whose lives he touched. And he wasn't afraid to speak out, even when he knew he'd be sharply criticized.
   Packnett took a great deal of heat last year from some blacks when he endorsed Francis Slay, who is white, for president of the city's Board of Aldermen over his black opponent, Alderman Velma Jean Bailey. The criticism didn't bother him. "What's right is right, " he said then.
   Others didn't care for him four years ago when he made a stink after taking his two children to Union Station to see Santa and discovering that they had no black Santas. He called the company that supplies Santa to malls nationwide and learned the company had supplied no black Santas here.
   He faxed letters to marketing directors at seven malls and a department store on behalf of the St. Louis Clergy Coalition, a group of black ministers that represents various denominations. The letter said, in effect, we spend money in your stores and we want a black Santa. Two of the malls told him they would hire a black Santa right away.

Last year, a day before the Million Man March, Packnett led more than 100 people in prayer at Central Baptist Church before they headed off to the event in Washington. After praying, he led the audience in song, delighting the crowd when he changed the words to a spiritual from "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me 'round" to "Ain't gonna let Newt Gingrich turn us 'round."

The members of his church remember him best for his work at Central Baptist. "He was always helping people, doing for people, teaching people right from wrong, " Bobo said.
"We'll not get any more pastors like that, " Bobo said, adding, "If they do, it'll probably be long after I'm not around anymore."

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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