Robert "Don" Mantooth

Dr. Robert Donald “Don” Mantooth, 80, of Morehead, Kentucky, passed away Friday, May 20, 2022 at St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead.

He was born on April 4, 1942 in Blue Ridge, Georgia, to the late Hoyt Robert Mantooth and Aileen Terrell Mantooth.

Dr. Mantooth served as the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Morehead for 32 years.  He was also a home designer and draftsman, donating his time and skill to numerous church and nonprofit building and renovation projects in the region.  He is a past president of the Morehead Area Habitat for Humanity and was a member of the Morehead Men’s Club and the Morehead-Rowan County Ministerial Association. He also taught courses in history, philosophy, and computer-aided design as an adjunct professor at Morehead State University.

Dr. Mantooth is a graduate of Cumberland College and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and completed additional studies at Tel Aviv University and Regent’s Park College of Oxford University.  He was a Baptist missionary to Israel and served as chaplain for the Sinai Field Mission, a U.S. military operation along the border between Israel and Egypt.  He sat on the board of the Western Recorder, Kentucky’s Baptist newspaper, and was a founding member of both the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky.  He also coordinated the efforts of volunteers from Kentucky to relocate and renovate the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic.

Surviving Dr. Mantooth are his wife Suzanne Fitts Mantooth; his daughter Robin Mantooth Simpson and her husband Joseph; and his son Mark Alden Mantooth and his wife Rachel, all of Morehead.  He is also survived by his four grandchildren, Molly Olivia Simpson, Emma Claire Mantooth, John Alden Mantooth, and Collin Peter Mantooth; his brother Joe Allen Mantooth and his wife Trish of Fort Mill, South Carolina; Jerry Hoyt Mantooth and his wife Kim of Maryville, Tennessee; and several nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, June 12, 2022 at the First Baptist Church in Morehead with Rev. Aaron Coyle-Carr officiating. A reception will immediately follow in the Mantooth Fellowship Hall.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Dr. Mantooth’s memory may be made to First Baptist Church, 123 East Main Street, Morehead, Kentucky 40351.

Funeral arrangements for Dr. Mantooth have been made by the Michael R. Gray Funeral Home, 808 Old Flemingsburg Road, Morehead, Kentucky.