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Roy Reese
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ROY REESE:
Remembering a lifetime of ministry
By ANNE DUKES
Wesleyan Christian Advocate
ATLANTA – At 98 years of age, the Rev. Roy Reese is taking things a little slower these days. He's accepted the physical decline of his health and is in hospice care, but his obvious love for his Lord and his new wife Bettye keep him a vibrant gentleman who enthusiastically shares the knowledge he's accumulated.
One of the eldest ministers in the Holston Conference (having served 75 years), Reese now calls Wesley Woods Center in Atlanta home.
In addition to teaching Sunday school, he also has lent his talents in serving Holy Communion at the facility, speaking to Candler School of Theology students, addressing Emory Medical School students and offering opinions to eldercare experts. On top of all this, he practices the ancient art of Tai Chi to help with his balance.
“How great God was when he set this great universe in place. He had to have had it all in mind,” marveled Reese as he reminisced about the people, places and things that have made so rich a life. “I can sit here and look out at the trees, and each one has a story to tell.”
As he talked, he admired the view from the tower apartment he shares with his second wife; he met her at Wesley Woods as they shared a songbook in the choir. They married almost five years ago. Reese was married to first wife Helen (a preacher's daughter) for 68 years. She shared a life in the ministry with him before she died in 1998.
Like many older Americans who have lived varied, interesting lives, Reese has a lot to look back on and a lot to be thankful for. He recalls with pride his home church, Emerald Avenue UMC in Knoxville, Tenn., where he was baptized and later preached. His Scottish great-grandmother had his future career in mind even when he was a baby, but it took him 22 more years to hear his call. In 1927, he preached his first sermon at Emerald Avenue, and he also preached there during his 97th year. “My home church was always my spiritual guide – our church was just everything to us,” he recalled.
Reese's service record dates back to 1930 when he became a probationer. In 1933 he became a deacon in full connection; in 1935, an elder. He pastored many churches, including First Sevierville, Harriman, Jones Memorial, and Gate City.
One accomplishment that Reese is most proud of, in addition to his preaching, was his participation in Holston Conference camping. Although he hadn't been directly involved in camps before, one day someone from the education branch of the church approached him and said, “Roy, the Lord's calling you to a different kind of work.” Reese replied, “That's funny, he didn't say anything to me about it this morning.”
Later, at the 1948 Annual Conference, Reese was selected to serve on a newly formed Conference Camping Commission. After studying organization, purpose and goals of Christian camping, the commission produced a widely used camping manual in 1949. Reese's reports on camping's “significant role in the educational program of our conference” were published in the 1950 Journal and excerpted in Charles Maynard's 1988 historical book, “Where the Rhododendrons Grow.”
Reese retired from active ministry in 1970 due to failing sight, but he has been anything but retiring since. Recently, Reese was invited to Emory Medical School to talk with the incoming class of physicians about aging and what older people need from the medical profession. Reese made two important points in his talks. The first one: Older people want to be treated like people and they don't want to be “talked around” as if they are objects. His second point: Older people should have a part in decisions about their treatments. In his own experience, he praised his own doctor for her care and honesty in discerning that due to his ailing heart, hospice care is right for him now.
As he looks out the window of his apartment, today Reese is glad to be at Wesley Woods Towers. “This is next to heaven,” he said.
Reprinted with permission, Wesleyan Christian Advocate, the official newspaper of the North Georgia and South Georgia Conferences.
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