Calvin Shirley Rice

Calvin Shirley Rice was born in Salerno, Florida, June 25, 1926. He died May 12, 2026, at the age of 99.

At the age of eight, he moved with his family to Decatur, Georgia, where he graduated from Avondale High School in 1943. Calvin briefly started as a tech candidate at Emory University, but soon enlisted in the Navy after turning 18, in 1944, and deployed as a Seaman, 1st Class. He was first assigned to Shoemaker Base, San Francisco, a hub for submarine and ship repair. He served in the Pacific over 2 years, and was honorably discharged after WWII.

After the war, Calvin entered Aurora College, receiving a degree in theology, working bi-vocationally as a draftsman and part-time minister. While in college, he married Charlotte Arneson, a union that produced two children: Chari Leah Rice and Mark Lansing Rice, but they divorced after eleven years.

After returning to the Atlanta area for graduate school, he married Betty Richey Huggins, his faithful and loving wife for over 65 years. Calvin and Betty had one son, Timothy William Rice, who is currently pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Lakeland, Florida.

In the early 1960’s, Calvin attended Columbia Presbyterian Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. After this, he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in October, 1965 and served churches in Georgia, North Carolina, and West Virginia. He served faithfully in ministry until his first retirement in 1988. Calvin served in interim pastoral roles until his second retirement in 2009 at the age of 83.

Pastor Rice is survived by wife Betty, sons, Mark Rice of Windsor, Vermont; Michael Huggins of Sierra Vista, Arizona, Randall Huggins of Dunbar, West Virginia, and Timothy Rice of Lakeland, FL; 8 grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren, and 1 great, great grandchild.

Rev. Rice ascribed all honor and glory and majesty to his Heavenly Father for the long years he lived and left this life with the blessed assurance of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, who has atoned for our sins and secured for us eternal life by His righteousness and resurrection. 

Contact family directly regarding Celebration of Life.