May 31 Today in OPC History

On May 31, 1931, W. Harllee Bordeaux was ordained by the Presbytery of New Hanover of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (Southern Presbyterian Church). Born in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1906, Bordeaux attended Davidson College and Princeton Seminary, leaving the latter in 1929 with the formation of Westminster Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1931. Two days after his ordination he was received by the Presbytery of the Connecticut Valley of the PCUSA (Northern Presbyterian Church), where he served Greenwich Community Church.

On June 24, 1936 Bordeaux was received by the Presbytery of California of the OPC. For nine years he taught at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (later Biola College), and then was dean of the Los Angeles Baptist Theological Seminary from 1944 to 1945 (where he had earned a Th.D. in 1937). Following a decade of service as General Secretary of the American Council of Christian Churches in New York, Bordeaux pastored two OP congregations, in East Orange, New Jersey (1959–1963) and Westchester, Illinois (1964–1971). From there he then moved to Flint Michigan, first to work in Christian radio and then to serve as minister of visitation at Riverdale Baptist Church. He was removed from the roll of the Presbytery of the Midwest in 1972.

Bordeaux passed away on September 15, 1989, at the age of 83. New Horizons observed, “Harllee Bordeaux had a sense of humor and enjoyed making people laugh. He had a way with words spoken with his native North Carolina accent which he never lost. His Christian convictions were firmly stated. Bold in witness, he rejoiced to make his Savior known.”