Bubba was born to Marion Keith Grimsley, Sr. and Evelyn Hickey Grimsley of Florence, SC on August 20, 1947. He was a graduate of McClenaghan High School (class of 1967) in Florence, SC, and Rhema Bible Training Institute (1980) in Broken Arrow, OK, and remained a member of the Rhema Ministerial Association International. Bubba married Pamela Dale Dellinger on August 2, 1969 at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Florence, SC. They had two children together: Kerri Grimsley (Roberts) in 1977, and Matthew Grimsley in 1980.
Shortly after Bubba’s conversion to Christ on December 7, 1969, he sensed a call to ministry and gave the rest of his life to this calling. He founded Bubba Grimsley Ministries Inc. in 1981 with a focus on missions and evangelism. Bubba served at Nicky Cruz’s ministry headquarters in Raleigh, NC, and was the founder and director of the Nicky Cruz Outreach Center in Florence, SC, a faith-based residential rehabilitation center for those struggling with drug and alcohol addictions. Bubba went on to become the founding pastor of Florence Christian Fellowship in Florence, SC in 1980, to serve as the pastor of Faith Fellowship Church in Morehead City, NC starting in 1986, and to serve as the pastor of East Marion Pentecostal Holiness Church in Marion, SC in the early 90’s.
Throughout these years, Bubba began traveling internationally to preach the gospel, which became the focus of his later years of ministry. He has ministered in twenty-five different countries on four different continents, and lived for a period of time in Nicaragua.
Bubba is preceded in death by his mother, Evelyn Hickey Grimsley, and younger brother, Thomas Edward Grimsley on December 26, 1959, his father, Marion Keith Grimsley, Sr. on September 9, 2001, his step-mother Catherine Reed Grimsley on March 18, 2009, and his brother-in-law VJ Schofield on December 29, 2018. Bubba is survived by his daughter Kerri Grimsley Roberts (Brent) of Columbia, SC, his son Matthew Grimsley (April) of Madison, WI, his eight grandchildren: Caleb (18), Gracyn (16), Thomas (16), Maddie (12) and Ellie (10) Roberts, and Jackson (13), Olivia (11), and Norah (6) Grimsley, and his siblings Becky Grimsley Schofield (VJ) of Atlanta, GA, Betty Sue Readling (Rodney) of Davidson, NC, and Dr. Michael E. Reed (Carolyn) of Columbia, SC.
Bubba loved people, shooting pool, ribeye steaks, good stories, bad jokes, and black coffee all day long. He loved his church family at International Family Church, and his neighbors at the Finlay House. Most of all he loved his family, and preaching the Word of God and seeing people’s lives transformed by the power of the gospel.
A celebration of Bubba’s life will be held on Friday, September 6, 2019 at Dunbar Funeral Home (3926 Devine St, Columbia, SC 29205) at 3:00 p.m. The family will receive friends prior to the service beginning at 2:00 p.m.
A second memorial for friends at the Finlay House will be held on Saturday, September 7 at 2:00 pm in Townsend Hall.
