Elected to the post of executive secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the denomination is rev. Arleigh G. Matlock, now pastor of the Fresno, Calif., church, according to an announcement from the board office in Memphis. The new executive will assume his duties July 1.

The position is a new post created by the missions board as heretofore no full-time executive has been employed for this work. In the past the president of the board has been a part-time executive directing the work. Mrs. T. C. Stockton who has served as president of the board of nine years will retire from office when the new board head takes charge.

The missions board has felt the need for a full-time executive for this work for some time as the responsibilities for the administration of the work have increased greatly.

The new missions head comes to the secretaryship an an experienced missionary, having served in Colombia, South America, from 1941 to 1944. Before going to the mission field he served pastorates at the Joinerville, Texas, church; Princeton-Fredonia, Ky., churches; and the Brooksville, Miss., group of churches. He graduated from Bethel College in 1937 and from the Seminary in 1939. As he takes over his new position he concludes a five-year pastorate at Fresno.

Mr. Matlock is a native of Texas and was reared at Terrill. His father. Rev. R. E. Matlock, who died only a few months ago, was a minister in the church for more than thirty years.

He and his wife (the former Josie Nell Bone of Dyer, Tenn.) and their four-year-old son, John, will move to Memphis as his headquarters will be in the office of the Board located there.

As executive secretary he will supervise all work under the care of the Board of Foreign Missions including the foreign missions programs in churches and the missions work in San Francisco, South China, and in South America.
[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, May 23, 1950, page 3]

Rev. Dr. Arleigh G. Matlock died at Graham, TX, July 23 after an extended illness. He was 68.

He was a pastor, board executive, missionary, moderator, husband and father.

A native of Texas, he was born in 1912, graduated from Bethel College, and from the Cumberland Presbyterian Seminary in 1939. He held the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Bethel College.

He was ordained in 1937 by Dallas Presbytery and had served pastorates in Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Texas, and California. From 1940 to 1942, he and his wife were missionaries to Colombia, SA. He was Executive Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions for twelve years-from 1950 to 1962. He served two pastorates after his work with the Board: the Park Avenue CP Church, Memphis, and the CP Church, Olney, TX. He retired from the Olney church and moved to nearby Graham three years ago.

In 1960 he was Moderator of the General Assembly.

He was married to the former Josie Nell Bone of Dyer, TN in 1939. They have one son, Robert, of Kansas City, and one grandson. He is also survived by two sisters and three brothers.

Services were held at the CP Church in Olney and interment was in the local cemetery.

Conducting the services was his brother, Rev. Joe Matlock, presently Executive Director of the denomination's Board of Missions.

Pallbearers and honorary pallbearers were elders of the Church. Dr. Matlock and planned the service himself.

The family has requested that any memorials be directed to the Dr. and Mrs. Arleigh G. Matlock Scholarship Fund for the benefit of Memphis Theological Seminary and be sent with that designation to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Olney, Texas.
[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, September 1, 1980, pages 3-4]