Jerry D. Kidd

Jerry Dwayne Kidd, aged 86, went to his heavenly home on January 20, 2026, after a long battle with cancer. He was born May 20, 1939, to Cecil and Corinne Flowers Kidd in his great aunt's home south of Hope, AR. Three years later, his sister, Jo Ann, was born, and they were close throughout life. Jerry attended school in Springhill, AR, through third grade when his family moved to Hope. His family were active members of Unity Baptist Church, and it was there, at the age of twelve, that he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Throughout his teen years, he served as worship leader and director of the Baptist Training Service at Unity. From an early age, he worked for the Hope Star newspaper, first delivering papers from his bicycle, then as a linotype setter and press operator.

After graduating high school in 1957, Jerry moved to Magnolia to attend Southern State College (now Southern Arkansas University) on a band scholarship. He also had a job in the college print shop. When he moved to the college campus during that summer to begin his new job, he attended a nearby church because he didn't own a car. College View Baptist Church was a block off campus, and it was there that he met the love of his life, Sue Hudson. Sue was sixteen years old and about to be a junior at Magnolia High School.

From the time Jerry entered college, he began to feel the Lord's calling on his life. God was bidding him to preach His word, but Jerry didn't feel worthy for that lofty task, so, again and again, he said "no" to the Lord. He couldn't seem to concentrate on his chosen major and eventually dropped out of college and worked for the Banner News. Magnolia's daily newspaper. He and Sue dated during her two final years of high school, and Jerry gave her an engagement ring for graduation. That fall, Sue left home to begin her college career at Central Baptist College in Conway. It was during that first semester that Jerry finally surrendered his life to the Lord. He joined Sue at CBC at mid-term. They were married on August 26, 1960, at College View Baptist Church, where they had met three years earlier.

During his three years at CBC, Jerry took a full load of classes, worked 46 hours per week at the Log Cabin Democrat, and pastored two churches: first Tomberlin near England and later Eastside Baptist in Lonoke. He also found time for extracurricular activities, serving as president of the Student Council and starting and editing the school newspaper, the Centralian. Upon Jerry's graduation from CBC, the Kidds moved to Springhill, LA, to begin their first full-time pastorate at Eastside Baptist Church.

The four years they spent in Springhill were a thrilling time of learning and loving the people of that small town. The church grew, and they were content there until the Lord called them further from home. After preaching two revival meetings in Central Florida and seeing the scarcity of churches in that area, Jerry realized the Lord could use him to proclaim the Gospel

there. He applied for Interstate Missionary status and was sent to Ft. Walton Beach, FL, to Westwood Baptist Church, a newly organized church in that city. The five years they lived in Florida were special for several reasons. Many people came to the Lord in that military town, and the church grew rapidly. Also, it was during this time that they were blessed to adopt their two children: Jason, at one month old, and, three years later, Juli, who was two months old.

They were very content serving in Ft. Walton Beach, but the Lord was not through changing their location. A missionary who had served in Brazil came to Westwood and showed slides of his missionary aviation ministry. Jerry was captivated. He had always loved flying, and he loved to preach. God impressed upon him that he could use him to do the same type of work that missionary was doing. He resigned as pastor of Westwood and made plans to attend LeTourneau College (now LeTourneau University) in Longview, TX, to take the technical courses needed to be a jungle pilot in Bolivia, where there was a need for an aviation ministry. During the year they were in Longview, Jerry pastored Ware Acres Baptist Church, another church that was difficult to leave.

Marvin Lloyd and family were home on furlough from Bolivia, where they had served for four years. They were ready to return to the field, and Marvin convinced Jerry that the two families should go back by land in order to take much-needed equipment and supplies. It turned out to be a three-month trip fraught with difficulties, but they finally made it. For eight years while living in Santa Cruz, Jerry flew his Cessna 206 airplane, "Wings of the Wind", on countless flights into the jungle, delivering supplies to missionaries who lived among Indian tribes, taking the "Jesus" film and an electric generator to remote villages, preaching the Word wherever he went, and ferrying sick and wounded from remote areas to hospitals in the city.

While on their second furlough back in the States, there was a shift in the missions office personnel, and Jerry was asked to take the position of Foreign Missions Director. After prayerful consideration, he felt this was God's will. For the next thirty-plus years, he traveled around the world, wherever the Baptist Missionary Association had missionaries, helping with their problems, encouraging them in any way he could, and opening new fields for the BMA.

Upon retirement from the role of Foreign Missions Director, Jerry accepted the pastorate of Temple Baptist Church (now South City Church) in Little Rock. He also served as Director of Missionary Care of the BMA.

On the occasion of his 80th birthday in May 2019, Jerry was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, TX, for his decades of missionary work around the world.

Jerry was predeceased by his parents, son, Jason, sister, Jo Ann, and her husband, Gilbert Brown. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Sue, daughter, Juli, and her three children, Brittany and Brandon Johnson, and Bradley (Katelyn) Ellis, great-grandsons, Jayden and Nolan Ellis. Others he leaves behind are sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Cindy and Dan Fulton, brother-in-law, Mike Hudson, special friends, Uriel and Judy Johnson, dear nieces and nephew, Ginger Baron, Buffie Brown and Les Brown, Mauricio Pereyra, Bolivian "son" who lived with them in Arkansas, the Iturralde family in Bolivia, and Melissa Gallardo (who was engaged to Jason at his time of death) and her son, Alessandro. Not to be forgotten are the many young men and women he mentored and loved like sons and daughters.

To honor and celebrate Jerry’s life, a visitation will be held on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. at Park Place Baptist Church, 22208 I-30 Frontage Road in Bryant, Arkansas, followed by the funeral service beginning at 11:00 a.m. Burial will take place later that afternoon at 3:30 p.m. at Anderson Cemetery, 214 Hempstead 7, Hope, Arkansas, 71801.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to South City Church, 317 Shackelford Rd, Little Rock, AR 72211, or Baptist Missionary Association, P. O. Box 878, Conway, AR 72033.