And we can now add Rex Humbard, 88, to the list of deaths.
I watched him often during the 1970s when he had his Cathedral of Tomorrow telecast. His preaching style was what one would call "down home" and definitely low-key by comparison to others.
However, he was much like the others in that his ministry was lavish, and he and his wife Maude Aimee liked to live well. And there were troubles:
However, mounting financial problems forced Humbard to leave one dream unfulfilled. Construction was never completed on a 750-foot broadcast tower in Cuyahoga Falls, between Akron and Cleveland.
His ministry suffered from internal disputes and extensive borrowing. In the 1970s, federal and state regulators complained that millions of dollars in notes that he had issued to followers over the years violated securities laws.
Luckily for him, he was never involved in the sordid scandals that plagued other televangelists.
He was friends with Elvis Presley and spoke at his funeral, which raised him up a few notches in my book.
