George Wayne Reid, a Seventh-day Adventist scholar and theologian, passed to his rest on May 2 in Keene, Texas, United States. He was 95. An experienced researcher and author on theological topics, Reid is best known within Adventist circles as a former associate editor of Adventist Review and director of the church’s Biblical Research Institute (BRI) for 17 years.
Growing in a Farm
Reid was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on September 19, 1930. After his mother passed away when he was 3 years old, he was raised on his father’s family farm with his younger brother Robert during the Great Depression. He often told his children that if he had not felt overwhelmingly called to the ministry, he would have loved to have a career in horticulture.
He attended a local high school in Seminole, Oklahoma, before enrolling at Union College in Nebraska, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1952. The Oklahoma Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church saw great promise in George and chose to sponsor him as the first ministerial candidate to study for a postgraduate degree in that conference. Thus in 1953 he completed a Master of Arts in Religion in Washington, D.C., after which he attended Andrews University to receive his Master of Divinity in 1955. During this time he met and married a music major at Columbia Union College named Julia Cordwell.
From Church Pastor to the General Conference
In 1956 he answered a call to pastor several small churches in Oklahoma, and his family grew to include Deborah Nolene (1958) and George Wayne, Jr. (1960). From 1963 until 1967 he pastored the largest church in Oklahoma, and in 1967 he became the chair of the Religion Department at Southwestern Union College in Keene, Texas.
During this time Reid attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, and in 1976 was granted a Ph.D. in Theology. His edited doctoral dissertation, A Sound of Trumpets, was published in 1982. That same year he was called to the General Conference (GC) as associate editor of the Adventist Review magazine.
At the BRI
In 1984 he became director of the BRI during which time he edited the book Understanding Scripture (2006).
For more than two decades he worked and traveled the world, teaching graduate classes, meeting religious leaders, as well as researching and examining denominational beliefs to ensure compliance with biblical teaching. He helped to develop a study center in east Jerusalem that was utilized by students along with tour groups wanting to explore the biblical lands. Over the years he led many such tours.
On these tours I got to know George Reid quite well. At the beginning of 1999, when I joined BRI, my first task was to join him in Jerusalem to lead a group of church members to visit important historical sites in Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. He was very careful with the church’s money; thus we roomed together in the Jerusalem Center and in all the hotels on our travels.
Serving the World Church
During his time with the GC he sat on more than 60 boards and chaired many of them. One of the positions he prized most was the Ellen G. White Estate Board, on which he sat for many years, and which offered him an honorary lifetime membership.
His beloved wife of 68 years preceded him in death in 2023, and after many years of being her caregiver he missed her terribly. He loved spending time with friends, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Gardening remained his favorite pastime.
He is survived by his children, Deborah McLaughlin and George Reid, Jr., and wife, Patricia; grandchildren, Donald (Ace) McLaughlin and wife, Kalee, Alexander McLaughlin and wife, Rochelle, Andrew Reid, James Goodner, Grant Goodner and wife, Laura, and Cristal Goodner; and great-grandchildren Cora, Hayes, Sophie, Eva, and A. J. McLaughlin, and Makenzi, Hunter, Ciara, and Alexander Goodner.
A graveside service took place on May 8 at the Keene Memorial Park Cemetery Chapel.
Many of Reid’s coworkers still remember him driving a pickup truck and wearing a cowboy hat and boots. With eternity in sight, he will never run out of time or opportunity to learn.
