Texas Church Mourns Loss of Associate Pastor and Wife; the couple’s baby survives the accident

PANOLA COUNTY, Texas (KLTV / Gray News) – The community mourns the loss of a young couple who were killed in a car crash, leaving behind a 2-month-old child.

“Right now I’m saying we’re just in shock,” Eastside Baptist Church pastor Raymond Walker told KLTV.

Hunter Wilkes was the associate pastor at the Eastside Baptist Church in Texas.

He and his wife, Alexis “Lexi”, were killed in a car crash on Sunday morning. The couple’s newborn survived the collision with only a small bruise on his leg.

Walker was told of the accident just after Sunday services.

“They weren’t there for Sunday school,” Walker said. “The older I get the less I remember, so I wasn’t sure if Hunter maybe told me that they were going to be with his parents or something that day.” And I was like, ‘Well, you know, I’m going to go on and stay in class. “

Walker and his wife traveled to UT Health East Texas in Carthage to take care of the baby until family members could arrive.

He said Wilkes had been with the church for about a year and a half, explaining that he came from a family of preachers and attended a seminary in Louisiana.

“I’ve been in the ministry for 31 years… Every time Hunter and Lexi came they brought a lot of zeal, and it helped me a lot to try to be more positive,” Walker said, adding that the couple had been a blessing.

Walker said he and the church found peace in knowing that the Wilkes were with the Lord and that they would one day see them again.

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