Jerry Falwell

==Early life and education==
Falwell and his twin brother Gene were born in the Fairview Heights area of [[Lynchburg, Virginia]], on August 11, 1933, the sons of Helen Virginia (''née'' Beasley) and Carey Hezekiah Falwell.<ref name=NYT051507/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Falwell_Jerry_1933-2007|title=Falwell, Jerry (1933–2007)|access-date=January 21, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161102053303/http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Falwell_Jerry_1933-2007|archive-date=November 2, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XRFD-YBG |publisher=FamilySearch.org |title=Personal Details for C. A. Beasley|access-date=November 16, 2017}}</ref> His father was an entrepreneur and one-time [[Rum-runner|bootlegger]] who was agnostic.<ref name=NYT051507/> His father shot and killed his own brother Garland and died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1948 at the age of 55.<ref name=":0">{{cite magazine |last=Sherman |first=Gabriel |author-link=Gabriel Sherman |date=January 24, 2022 |title=Son of a Preacher Man |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/01/inside-jerry-falwell-jr-unlikely-rise-and-precipitous-fall |url-access=limited |magazine=Vanity Fair |volume=44 |issue=2 |location=New York |publisher=Condé Nast |pages=106 |access-date=March 8, 2022}}</ref> His paternal grandfather was a staunch [[atheist]].<ref name=NYT051507/> Jerry Falwell was a member of a group in Fairview Heights known to the police as "the Wall Gang" because they sat on a low concrete wall at the Pickeral Café.{{sfn|Towns|2014}} Falwell met Macel Pate on his first visit to Park Avenue Baptist Church in 1949; Macel was a pianist there.<ref name=":0" /> They married on April 12, 1958.{{sfn|Winters|2012|p=68}} The couple had sons [[Jerry Falwell Jr.|Jerry Jr.]] (a lawyer, and former chancellor of Liberty University) and [[Jonathan Falwell|Jonathan]] (senior pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church) and a daughter Jeannie (a surgeon).

Falwell and his wife had a close relationship, and she supported him throughout his career. The Falwells often appeared together in public, and they did not shy away from showing physical affection. Reflecting on his marriage, Falwell jokingly commented, "Macel and I have never considered divorce. Murder maybe, but never divorce." Macel appreciated her husband's non-combative, affable nature, writing in her book that he "hated confrontation and didn't want strife in our home{{nbsp}}... he did everything in his power to make me happy." The Falwells were married nearly fifty years until his death.{{sfn|M. Falwell|2008}}

He graduated from [[Brookville High School (Virginia)|Brookville High School]] in Lynchburg, and from then-unaccredited<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ncahlc.org/index.php?option=com_directory&Action=ShowBasic&instid=2797 |title=Higher Learning Commission:Baptist Bible College |access-date=January 6, 2009 |date=April 1, 2008 |publisher=Higher Learning Commission |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929131801/http://www.ncahlc.org/index.php?option=com_directory&Action=ShowBasic&instid=2797 |archive-date=September 29, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Higher Learning Commission |url=https://www.hlcommission.org/component/directory/?Itemid=&Action=ShowBasic&instid=2797 |access-date=2022-03-08 |website=www.hlcommission.org}}</ref> [[Baptist Bible College (Missouri)|Baptist Bible College]] in [[Springfield, Missouri]] in 1956. He enrolled there to subvert Pate's relationship with her fiancé who was a student there.<ref name=":0" /> Falwell was later awarded three honorary doctorates: [[Doctor of Divinity]] from [[Temple Baptist Seminary|Tennessee Temple Theological Seminary]], [[Doctor of Letters]] from [[Haven University|California Graduate School of Theology]], and [[Doctor of Law]]s from Central University in [[Seoul]], South Korea.<ref name="official biography">{{cite web |url=http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=6921 |title=Executive Biographies:Dr. Jerry Falwell |access-date=January 6, 2009 |publisher=Liberty University |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210134809/http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=6921 |archive-date=December 10, 2008 }}</ref>