Robert Walker Maclagan, ruling elder

A native of Scotland, my maternal grandfather, Robert Walker Maclagan, served as a ruling elder at Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia. I never knew him; he died more than two decades before my birth.

He had two sons, my Mother’s only siblings. Robert, Jr. lived less than a month. John Malcolm died a few weeks before his third birthday in 1922. I am named after Malcolm (my middle name). The early deaths of his young sons explain my grandfather’s special interest in the baby clinic.

Robert Maclagan arrived in New York in February 1915, and joined Central Presbyterian Church later that year. He was elected deacon in 1916 and ruling elder in 1931.

My mother, Roberta Emma Maclagan Wingard, made her profession of faith in Christ at Central in 1935. She left Atlanta in 1949. In 1963 she returned to Atlanta and  reunited with the church the following year.

From 1964-1969 I was a non-communing member at Central Presbyterian Church. My first memories of public worship are sitting with my parents at Central.