Lloyd August Lovegren, MD, a medical missionary to Jordan for 36 years, passed from earthly life to eternal life on November 11, 2022, one month short of his 101st birthday.
Dr. Lovegren was born in Yachow, Szechwan, West China, to Northern Baptist missionaries, Dr. Levi A. Lovegren and Ida Langsea, the children of immigrants from Sweden and western Finland. August was the third of five siblings, including Anna Louise, Mildred, Norman, and Edith.
In the 1920s, at age 7, August left home with his older sister, Mildred Lovegren, to attend Canadian boarding school. He graduated from Howard College (now Samford University) with a BS in chemistry in 1943 and completed medical school at Wake Forest University in 1946. When World War II broke out, August enlisted in the army. Following the war, he served in a MASH unit in the Korean peninsula and briefly in China.
The 1949 Chinese Communist Revolution prevented August from realizing his dream of returning to the land of his birth as a medical missionary. He married Alta Lee Grimes of Cedartown, Georgia, in 1951, and they were appointed to the Baptist Hospital in Ajloun, Jordan, by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. He and Alta Lee spent two years in Beirut, Lebanon, studying Arabic before moving to Ajloun. They also served in Gaza and Yemen. King Hussein of Jordan made August an Officer of the Order of Al-Istiqlal (Independence) in recognition of his exemplary and meritorious service to the people of Jordan.
In retirement August served his church, whether in Ajloun, Jordan, Cedartown, Georgia, or Nashville, Tennessee, as a deacon, a Sunday School teacher, and a choir member. He volunteered in Jordan, Yemen, and northern Iraq and traveled widely in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Like his parents, he also visited relatives in Scandinavia.
His wife of 62 years, Alta Lee, preceded August in death in 2014. He is survived by his sister, Edith Lambert of Highland, California; his daughters, Miriam Lanier (Homer) of Beirut, Lebanon, and Linda Rowland (David) of Nolensville, Tennessee; his grandchildren, Bethany Lanier, Leigh Ann Judd (Colin), David Lanier (Gaby), Lilly Rowland, John Rowland, Paul Rowland (Olivia), and Mark Rowland; and two great-grandchildren, Harrison Judd and Yates Judd.
A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 17, at Woodbine Funeral Home, Hickory Chapel; 5852 Nolensville Pike; Nashville, Tennessee, with visitation from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.
The burial will be on Saturday, November 19, in Cedartown, Georgia. Visitation will be at Gammage Funeral Home, 106 North College Street in Cedartown, from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m., with the service and interment to follow.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention or to a charity of your choice. If you would like to contribute to the Ajloun Baptist Conference Center in his honor, please contact Miriam Lanier or Linda Rowland personally.
Messages of condolence can be made to the family by visiting our website and signing the online guestbook at gammage.com.
The Olin L. Gammage and Sons Funeral Home is handling the arrangements for Dr. Lloyd August Lovegren.
