John Reid

John Graham Reid died early in the morning of Monday, March 9, 2015, at Parkway Village, Little Rock, Arkansas. He was born on January 30, 1923, in San Diego, California, and grew up in La Mesa, California. His parents were John S. Reid, a school teacher and superintendent of schools in La Mesa, and Hildegarde Reid, both of whom had grown up in Kansas. After graduating from Grossmont High School in La Mesa, John went to Westmont College (now in Santa Barbara, but at that time located in Los Angeles), where he met his wife-to-be, Mary Graham.

During World War 2 John enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served for much of a year on the USS Manley in the South Pacific. While on duty he applied and was accepted into training for the chaplaincy and was released to study at the University of Redlands, from which he graduated in 1945. Shortly thereafter John and Mary were married (October 25, 1945). John studied for the ministry for one year at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, and then returned to Southern California, where he continued his theological education, taught elementary school, was involved in establishing a church and eventually earned a masters degree in education from the University of Southern California. Their son Daniel was born in May, 1949, in Los Angeles.

John and Mary were called to missionary service and originally thought they would be going to China, where Mary had grown up as the daughter and granddaughter of two generations of Southern Presbyterian missionaries. But when China’s doors were closed, they set their sights on Japan under the auspices of The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM). After much preparation, they arrived in Japan on January 2, 1953, and soon were immersed in two years of language study in the mountain town of Karuizawa. In 1954 their daughter Lou Anne was born, and shortly thereafter the family moved to Tokyo. There John worked alongside Donald Hoke in establishing Japan Christian College (now Tokyo Christian College). These were busy and stressful years, teaching and ministering the newly learned language. In 1957 their second daughter, Mary Beth, was born.

In 1959, after a year’s furlough in California, they settled in Yokosuka, where they would remain until their retirement in 1988. These years were occupied with starting two churches (first in Kinugasa and then in Mabori), serving on the boards of evangelical institutions such as Japan Christian College, Word of Life Press, the Yokosuka Christian Servicemen’s Center, and for a time as the chairman of TEAM.

Through much hard work, John became proficient in Japanese and at home in the Japanese culture. While much of his energy was given to evangelism and establishing churches, he was a natural networker who sensed the importance of nurturing strong evangelical Christian institutions in post-war Japan and invested heavily in them. John had a passion for preaching the gospel. He loved the Japanese and was loved and esteemed by them in return.

In 1988, after thirty-five years of service, John and Mary retired to Jackson, Tennessee, and then in 1994 to Parkway Village in Little Rock. Over the years they enjoyed further ministry opportunities in Japan, and were deeply involved in church life at Evangelical Community Church in Jackson and Covenant Presbyterian Church in Little Rock. But their hearts were ever in Japan. John (and Mary) will be buried in the Foreign Cemetery in Yokohama, beside their daughter Mary Beth, who died in 1973. They will join five other family members who have been buried in Asia over a period of 125 years.
John is survived by Mary, a resident of the Parkway Village Health Center; his daughter, Lou Anne Copeland, who with her husband Walter returned from missionary service in Japan to care for John and Mary; his son, Dan Reid, of Port Townsend, Washington; and his sister, Mary Jo Needham, of Portland, Oregon. There are four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
Through much hard work, John became proficient in Japanese and at home in the Japanese culture. While much of his energy was given to evangelism and establishing churches, he was a natural networker who sensed the importance of nurturing strong evangelical Christian institutions in post-war Japan and invested heavily in them. John had a passion for preaching the gospel. He loved the Japanese and was loved and esteemed by them in return.
In 1988, after thirty-five years of service, John and Mary retired to Jackson, Tennessee, and then in 1994 to Parkway Village in Little Rock. Over the years they enjoyed further ministry opportunities in Japan, and were deeply involved in church life at Evangelical Community Church in Jackson and Covenant Presbyterian Church in Little Rock. But their hearts were ever in Japan. John (and Mary) will be buried in the Foreign Cemetery in Yokohama, beside their daughter Mary Beth, who died in 1973. They will join five other family members who have been buried in Asia over a period of 125 years.
John is survived by Mary, a resident of the Parkway Village Health Center; his daughter, Lou Anne Copeland, who with her husband Walter returned from missionary service in Japan to care for John and Mary; his son, Dan Reid, of Port Townsend, Washington; and his sister, Mary Jo Needham, of Portland, Oregon. There are four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

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