STUART ALBERT FRAYNE
B.A., B.D., B.Ed., S.T.M., D.Min.
1927-2018

Stuart Frayne died in his sleep on January 12, 2018, in Kamloops,
BC, after suffering a severe heart attack the previous day. He was
90 years old.  Stuart was born on February 21, 1927 in the historic port town of Bideford, North Devon, England. He was a ‘Prefect of outstanding merit’ at Bideford Grammar School, who also
excelled at rugby and billiards. Upon graduating, he served two years as a ‘writer’ with the Royal Navy in Malta, where he also took charge of a small congregation of sailors and others who found themselves far from home.

Stuart returned to England and began his ministry as a lay preacher there in 1947. He married his beloved Eileen (nee Weaver) in 1949. He earned a certificate in education from St. Paul’s College, Cheltenham, University of Bristol, in 1950, and a diploma in
religious education from Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, in 1951. He taught religious studies in schools in Taunton, Somerset, and in Bideford from 1951 to 1957.

Stuart immigrated to Canada in 1957 with Eileen and their two children, Peter (b. 1952) and Heather (b. 1956), to become the minister of the fledgling Grace Baptist Church in
north Winnipeg. He was ordained in the Baptist Federation of Canada in 1958. A third child, Stephen, was born the same year.

Stuart was loved and admired as the pastor of a number of churches in Western Canada and Ontario: Grace Baptist Church until 1962; South Hill Baptist Church, Vancouver, from 1962 to 1964; First Baptist Church, Vancouver from 1964 to 1968; Burlington Baptist Church, Burlington, Ontario, from 1968 to 1974, Calvary Baptist Church,
Toronto, from 1974 to 1979; and Broadway First Baptist Church, Winnipeg, from 1985 to1987.

He doggedly pursued formal studies throughout his ministry, receiving a B.A. from the University of Manitoba in 1962; B.Ed. (specializing in adult education) from the University of Manitoba in 1963; B.D. from Union College (United) in Vancouver in 1967(gold medal); S.T.M. (honours) from the Vancouver School of Theology in 1972, and D.
Min., from the Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto, in 1979.

From 1979 to 1985, Stuart threw himself into the life of the Toronto School of Theology where, as assistant director, he was responsible for extensive continuing education programs as well as teaching in the pastoral and continuing education departments. From 1987 until his retirement in 1992, he occupied the George A. Hurlburt Chair of Preaching at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, where he was a perennial favourite with students.

Following Stuart’s retirement, he and Eileen moved to Alberta (Calgary, Camrose, then Grimshaw), before returning in 2002 to Winnipeg, home to his daughter, where his life in Canada had begun. He was devastated in 2005 when Eileen died after a long illness. Stuart moved to Kamloops, home to his sons, in 2015.

Stuart’s memory will be cherished by many people whose lives he touched throughout his long career in ministry and education. He is survived by his children Peter (Pat), Heather (Daryl), Steve (Cindy), his grandchildren Heather, Michael (Dani), Tim, Jesse (Chantalle), Chris (Carlene) and Amanda (Matt), and his great-grandchildren Ashlynn,
Peytton and Ainsley.

Crossing the Bar
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as going seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho’ from out our Bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.