Reverend Alan Lester Wyatt, Sr.

AIKEN, SC – Rev. Alan Lester Wyatt, Sr., 93, died in Suwanee, Georgia and went home to be with the Lord on Monday morning, October 31, 2022.

The funeral service will be held at 10:30 am, Friday, November 18, 2022, at Shellhouse Funeral Home Chapel in Aiken, SC with David Mullens as the officiant. Following, the interment will take place at 2 pm at Ft. Jackson National Cemetery in Columbia, SC where Rev. Fred Hope will officiate and military honors will be presented by the U.S. Coast Guard. Family and friends are invited to the services to celebrate his life.

Alan was born in 1929, in Worcester, Massachusetts, the fifth of six children born to the late W. L. Wyatt of Pikeville, Tennessee, and F. M. Keith of Brockton, Massachusetts. Alan’s father was a WWI US Army veteran, attorney, banker, and teacher; His mother, was a teacher and daughter of Edward Herman Keith, mayor of Brockton and member of the Massachusetts state legislature. Alan was reared in New England where he attended Gates Lane Grammar School in Worcester, learned to sail as a Sea Scout at Wellfleet, ice skated on Coes Pond, dug for quahogs with his brother in the mudflats along the ocean, and attended boarding school at Coburn Classical Institute in Waterville, Maine. He enjoyed visits with family in Tennessee before moving to San Diego, CA.

Alan served honorably in the US Coast Guard beginning in Long Beach, California from July 25, 1947, to July 30, 1951. He was dedicated to his service on vessels at sea including the CGC Diligence; CGC Minnetonka, and the CGC Morris. At 18 years of age, Alan enlisted as a Seaman Recruit, was the leading seaman on his first ship, completed technical training in Groton, Connecticut to serve as a highly skilled radio operator, and was recognized by the USCG 11th District with a medal for exemplary conduct and meritorious efficient service while attached to Radio Station Long Beach, Pt. Vincente, California.  Communications by Morse code from his ship served as a valuable source of weather data in the Pacific and facilitated the post-World War II removal of Japanese mines. During the Korean War, Alan served honorably as Staff Sergeant in the US Air Force while assigned to Hamilton Air Force Base in Marin County from January 14, 1952 to August 21, 1953 and continued as a USAF reservist until October 17, 1957.

Alan shared his love of Jesus with nearly everyone with whom he came in contact and his testimony often began with I John 1:1, a verse which enlightened him when reading a New Testament on shipboard.

Alan graduated from Calvin College (BA, 1958) with a major in history, pursued his passion for ministry by attending Westminster Theological Seminary, and later graduated from Western Evangelical Seminary (1970) with a Master of Divinity. His thesis, “A Christian Concept of Anthropology Derived from the Johannine Literature,” is cataloged online at the George Fox University Digital Commons (May 1970). Alan was ordained in 1965 in Neosho, Missouri and became a member of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (CCCC).

Before studying for the ministry, Alan was a respected mentor and instructor of English and the Bible at Lynden Christian High School in Washington state. He was a teacher of cadets at Brown Military Academy in Glendora, CA, and at San Diego Military Academy, where he taught U. S. government and public speaking. At SDMC, he was also their National Forensic League debate coach and sailing coach.

Alan and Joan Marie Emerson married in San Francisco, honeymooned in Carmel, raised four children, sang duets together, and traveled to all 50 states and Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. During their 58-year marriage, he established and pastored several churches with Joan at his side – including Hoodland Chapel in Oregon before moving in 2005 across the country to Aiken, South Carolina. He continually marveled at the beauty and majesty of God’s creation including all bird life – having attended a bird camp on Block Island and often mimicked their songs with his whistle and delighted in landscaping the gardens of his homes. He was known for taking long walks in the woods and when asked, could readily share the names of most constellations, wildflowers, bushes, and trees.

Alan is survived by his four children, Angela (Craig) Jarchow, R. J. Wyatt Ph.D., J. L. (David) Mullens, and Alan (J. J.) Wyatt, Jr.; seven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; brother David (Shirley) Wyatt, sister-in-law Marjorie Emerson and many beloved nieces and nephews. Rev. Alan Lester Wyatt, Sr. was preceded in death by his wife, parents, and his brothers; John, James, and Roderick Wyatt, and sister, Shirley (James) Bartlett.

In memory of Alan, donations can be made to Gideons International (www.gideons.org) and Golden Harvest Food Bank (www.goldenharvest.org) in Aiken, SC.

SHELLHOUSE FUNERAL HOME, INC, 924 HAYNE AVE, AIKEN, SC