6611432401.jpg &&& FORT WORTH — Aubrey Laws Sr. followed in his father’s footsteps by entering church life as a deacon. Then he went further, serving Fort Worth as a minister for more than a half-century. While playing an integral role in his community, including performing hundreds of weddings and funerals, he passed his love of the Lord to future generations through his grandson the Rev. G.L. Durham.Mr. Laws died Aug. 30 at home after a stroke. He was 90."He never missed a Sunday until his health failed, and even then his family had to hold him back from going to church," Durham said.Mr. Laws, born Sept. 17, 1917, in Bryan to Otis and Lugenia Laws, grew up wearing boots and a cowboy hat and working on the family farm. He was the oldest boy of eight children and helped support the family by raising cows, chickens and hogs and helping plant and harvest vegetables.Mr. Laws loved to play baseball, but not on Sunday, relatives said. It was not allowed by his father, a deacon. It was a lesson Mr. Laws would pass along to his own four children."He was the best, but he was real strict," said his son Joe A. Laws Sr. "He was really conscious about doing things on Sunday, like cutting the yard. There was no playing sports. We had to have our clothes for church ready Saturday night because there was definitely no ironing."Mr. Laws met his future wife, Frankie May, in Bryan and followed her to Ennis to work in her father’s store. From there, the couple moved to Fort Worth, and Mr. Laws worked in a railroad yard for more than 15 years. Then he felt called to the ministry. He was already a deacon at Rising Star Baptist Church, which was then on Evans Avenue, when he began preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church No. 2, then in the Highcrest addition off Northeast 28th Street. After 25 years, he opened another church called Mount Gaza on Riverside Drive and Maddox Avenue, which moved after five years to Mississippi Avenue and Morningside Drive. It is now closed.There, his grandson entered the ministry, eventually taking over as pastor while Mr. Laws preached at three area churches, including Freshly Anointed Baptist Church, 3507 Crenshaw Ave."He loved God, and he loved people," Durham said. "He lived his life based on what he preached."His funeral was Saturday.Other survivors include children Christine A. Laws-Walker of Atlanta and Aubrey Laws Jr. of Fort Worth; brothers Otis V. Laws of Houston, Ed Oscar of Bryan and William A. Laws of Dallas; a sister, Queen E. Laws-Goodlow of Dallas; 13 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.