Dr. Linnie Louis Darden, Jr. was born in Bellville, Texas on January 21, 1934. On Monday, November 27, 2023, Brother Darden passed away peacefully at his home in Hinesville, Georgia surrounded by his family. He was 89 years old.

He lived in Galveston, Texas; San Francisco, Berkeley, California; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Livermore, California, Savannah, Georgia and Hinesville, Georgia.

He was the fourth child out of ten born to Linnie Louis Darden, Sr. and Victoria Darden. His family moved to Galveston,Texas, where he received his early education and was an outstanding high school football player, graduating from Central High School. Galveston was where he met the love of his life, Shirley Marie Provo. After he graduated from high school, Darden moved to San Francisco where he married Shirley and together, they raised six children in the San Francisco Bay area.

He served in the United States Army and was a veteran of the Korean War. Linnie first worked with deaf children at the School for the Deaf in Berkeley, California and at age 27, became the first African American Church of Christ missionary to Africa, helping to establish the Amaha Desta School for the Deaf in Addis, Ababa. He moved his family to Ethiopia where he began his mission work, establishing the deaf school and bringing many Ethiopian people to obey the Gospel of Christ. Upon his return from Ethiopia, he graduated from college and became an educator for at risk youth for the majority of his life.

In 1969, he was a Red Cross Field Officer volunteering to serve in the Vietnam war. His work with at risk youth and families began in 1975. Linnie moved to Savannah, Georgia in 1985, continuing teaching at
Savannah Technical College and Savannah State University and eventually settling in Hinesville, Georgia in 1994, where he founded the non-profitSave Our Children program for at risk youth ages 13 to 18 years old, teaching life skills as well as drug education in Hinesville, Georgia.

He served as a deacon at the Church of Christ in San Leandro, California and served as an elder at the Parkway Church of Christ in Savannah, Georgia.

At the age of 80 years old, he earned a doctorate in Religious Counseling, writing his thesis on at risk youth. Over the past fifteen years he made three mission trips to Africa to aid the needy in South Africa and Ethiopia.

In 2020, he received a congressional commendation for his Legends, Leaders and A Life Well Lived Award received from Senior Citizens, Inc. Linnie is preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, Shirley Darden, his
parents Linnie L. Darden, Sr., Victoria Darden and his brothers Nathaniel, Paul, Jeff, Charles and Otis Darden. He is survived by his six children, Linnie III (Bert), Allan (Alfreda), Darryl (Susan), Rochelle, Amsale, and Otis (Natashia) and sixteen grandchildren, twelve great grandchildren, sisters Claressa Morrow, Melvin Nealy, Jean Reaves, and Charlene Darden Baker as well as numerous nieces and nephews including special nephew, Ruben Washington.

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