Oran Heaton Griffith, born Heaton Oran Griffith on November 24, 1914, at Mt. Bethel in Panola County, Texas, was the first of Wyatt Greer and Francis Ethel Griffith's nine children. He later changed his name to Oran Heaton, was known as Heaton by family and close friends and as O.H. by others, trusted Christ on July 28, 1928, at Mt. Bethel Baptist Church, and was baptized the next day. While his father pastored Smyrna Baptist Church at Oak Flat, he met Alice Marie Bradbury, and they were married on July 13, 1934, by his father on the front porch of the Griffith House in Mt. Bethel; their son Charles Leo was born on July 13, 1935. During revival services at Smyrna Baptist Church in July 1936, he announced his call to preach, was licensed immediately, and was ordained in August 1938. For ten years he was bi-vocational, farming and teaching school to support his family while pastoring New Salem, Isbel Chapel, New Prospect, Sweet Gum, Omen, Hopewell, Murvaul, and Mt. Bethel churches. White Oak Baptist Church in White Oak, Texas, called him as full-time pastor in 1948, and Lowell Street Baptist Church in Texarkana, Arkansas, called him to be its first pastor in 1955, where he served for thirty years. After graduating from Laneville ISD in 1932, he attended Jacksonville College, received a teaching certificate with enough credits, and taught in Jumbo, Sulphur Springs, and Mt. Enterprise. While at White Oak, he attended East Texas Baptist and Stephen F. Austin State Colleges and received a BS degree from SFA in 1949. He also attended and taught at Texas Baptist Institute and received a doctor of divinity degree from TBI. In June 1955, messengers of the American Baptist Association elected him editor-in-chief of publications and re-elected him annually for thirty years, during which he promoted the ABA worldwide. Despite strong opposition from close family members, he was a leader in the development of Bogg Springs Baptist Encampment. He and Alice retired in 1985 to Laneville, where they owned a tree farm, and he was named Texas Tree Farmer of the Year in 1984. Soon after retirement, a neck injury left him partially paralyzed, but with the aid of a cane he continued to preach, teach Sunday school, write, and lecture. Alice died on November 23, 1990, and Oran Heaton Griffith died peacefully on January 28, 2004, after a life of faithful service that greatly impacted Baptists in Texas and the American Baptist Association.