James Tyler

James Tyler was born January 27th, 1928 in Boston, Massachusetts, as he says it, "somewhere in the middle '' of 10 other children. He grew up with a love of being active and spending time outdoors. Scouting, fishing and shooting were all pastimes Jim enjoyed, but he held a special place in his heart for designing and building airplanes. This passion stayed with Jim through his school years, and led him to study aeronautical engineering with plans to attend and graduate from M.I.T. Things changed in the second year of his studies after Jim heard a missionary from South America speak. A new passion was being awakened, a passion to serve as a missionary to Africa. And while he would never leave his love for designing and building airplanes, Jim did leave studying aeronautical engineering to study at a Bible college where he had been accepted in Providence, Rhode Island. Jim attended this school with Billie, whom he had met and become friends with back in high school in a choir. The friends were engaged before the last year of school and married on June 14, 1953 after graduating. The new couple was eager to travel as missionaries to Africa, but were denied the opportunity and instead, served as chaplains in migrant labor camps in Clinton, New York. This marked the beginning of their ministry career as a couple, and they went on traveling across the country to serve in various capacities. They started a Black Presbyterian church while working as missionaries in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This is where their first two children, Desire and Mark were born. Jim then moved the family to Springfield, Illinois in 1958 to attend seminary in pursuit of a position in the pastorate. Jim had to leave the seminary after a year, but the family stayed in Springfield where the next two children, Timothy and Melita were born. In 1962, Jim was able to return to seminary while working as a pastor in New Orleans, Louisiana, where the Tyler’s last child, David, was born. Jim was finally ordained in 1965. From there, the family moved back to Florida, and then across the county to Bakersfield, California. They lived here until 1981, when they were at last given an opportunity to travel to Nigeria as missionaries. They stayed in Nigeria almost 10 years before returning to California in 1990, having fulfilled their life’s longing to serve in Africa. After returning Stateside, Jim served as the pastor to Bethany Lutheran Church until he finally retired. Jim transitioned home to be with the Lord on December 10, 2020 and is survived by his wife, Billie, all five of his children, nine grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and countless other family members and friends joining us in this celebration both here in Bakersfield and abroad.