By Keisha Dawn – Dallas South News Intern

In December Bishop LarryMcGriff and his bride, Dr. Karen Hollie openly expressed their love for one another in a ceremony fit for a king and a queen.  With the love and support of family and friends  and anyone wanting to share in their blessing (I was blessed to be in attendance that day), the spiritual duo began their newlywed bliss. Just two months later, this chapter in their story has come to an unexpected end.

In the early morning hours of February 18, heartfelt news that McGriff, the Sr. Pastor of Church of the Living God had suffered an aneurysm spread throughout the Dallas community.  Before the clock struck noon, Bishop McGriff had passed and another one of God’s angels had been called home. The community in which he lived, worked, and fought for not only lost a true hero, but a man who many called a friend.

“There are pastors that are active and he’s definitely one of them…he’s helped so many people, especially when it came to community things,” said Michael Davis, Vice Chair of the Dallas City Plan Commission.

A  few years back McGriff advocated the cleanup and ridding of condemned motels that had become eye sores for Southern Dallas. Ironically, in the hours after McGriff’s passing Davis had the chance to view a model of an upscale business center which will take the place of a sordid motel Bishop McGriff helped to bring down.

Read more about Mr. Davis feeling for and work with Bishop McGriff at his blog Dallas Progress.

“Things work in that fashion…it’s a testament to me about the work he did,” Davis said.  McGriff and his church were grounded in the Oak Cliff community. People who knew him knew him as a man of God, and always true to his word.

“I like the way he treated people…he was a good guy. He was the kind of guy that would give the shirt off his back,” Carlos Huey, owner of HTI Auto Center in Desoto said.  After meeting Bishop McGriff a few years back the two formed a relationship built around the auto world.

“He bought a Bentley and I said, ‘let me drive the Bentley.’ He threw me the keys and said just drive it and when you’re through, just bring it back to me,” Huey said. “He didn’t have any stipulations. He loved people. He valued people.”

The love and support McGriff gave to the community is the same love and more in which Dr. Hollie received from her husband of less than two months.  At their lavish wedding he proclaimed his love for his wife as she to her husband. The union they had prayed for and readied for was a night to remember. Dr. Hollie can take pride in knowing that her  husband was loved by many, from the man struggling on the streets to the mayor of Dallas who called Bishop McGriff his friend.

“He was a special person that helped everyone,” said Davis, ”He was well known and loved because he helped everyone.”

Keshia Dawn is a student at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and author of the novel His Grace, His Mercy. She can be reached at keshia@dallassouthnews.org