A Benton Harbor minister who passed away this year will be remembered with an honorary street name change in the city. On Monday, commissioners approved renaming Main Street between Fair Avenue and the Bicentennial Bridge in honor of the Reverend Emery Varrie. Mayor Pro Tem Duane Seats says Varrie was an important influence.
“His legacy in my life will live forever,” Seats told WSJM News. “So, he deserved it. There’s no better person that know that deserved it more than Reverend Varrie.”
Varrie died in February. He had served as the senior pastor at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church on East Main Street for 32 years. Honorary signs will be put up on the route noting the Reverend Emory M. Varrie Memorial Drive.
