Lester John Miles

Preston, Idaho - - - L. John Miles

Preston - Lester John Miles, 93, recently of Preston, Idaho went home to be with the Lord, on Tuesday Night, November 3, 2009. He is remembered as a man who devotedly lived his faith and served his Savior since his conversion to Christ at the age of nineteen.

He was born on July 1, 1916, the youngest child of Lester Daniel and Susan Rosalin Truax Miles, both of Michigan. His father was a Methodist pastor. John attended High School in the Allegan, Michigan district, graduating in 1934. He then spent one year at Hope College, transferring to Taylor University to finish his undergraduate work. He earned his Master's degree at Dallas Theological Seminary. Following seminary graduation in 1942, he helped to establish a Christian Servicemen's center near Battle Creek, Michigan during the war. Returning to his hometown of Wayland, Michigan he took up the pastorate of the Wayland Methodist Church. A few years later that congregation became Calvary Church of Wayland under his leadership. While pastoring there, he married Evelyn G. Nysewander in Wabash, Indiana on May 30, 1945. Soon after their marriage, he and Rev. Malcolm Cronk of Grand Rapids, Michigan began the School of the Bible and Music. While still pastoring in Wayland, after two years on the faculty, John became the president of the School and served in that role full-time until 1988. After his retirement, he was called back to serve as pastor of the Calvary church of Wayland for eight more years. In 1996 he and his wife moved to St. George, Utah where he was involved in Southland Bible Church as a teacher and counselor, a church established by his son Tim. In 1999 he and Evelyn moved to LaGrange, Wyoming where he became an instructor at Frontier School of the Bible, a Bible Institute in the mold of his former school in Grand Rapids. The School's President is his youngest son, Nelson. He taught at the School until 2007. Near the end of his teaching time at the School he began preaching at the Hull Methodist Church near LaGrange and continued in that position until the couple moved to Preston, Idaho in May of this year to live with their daughter and son-in-law Gloria and Bill Bagley. Retirement in the classic sense was not in his vocabulary and his lifetime motto, which he expressed often to family, friends, fellow ministers, and students, was: "Preach the Word and love the people!"

John is survived by his wife of 64 years, Evelyn Gilberta Miles, of Preston; and four children, Gloria (Bill) Bagley, of Preston; Tim (Joy) Miles, of St. George, UT; Bruce (Donna) Miles, of Frisco, CO; and Nelson (Cheryl) Miles, of LaGrange, WY; 15 grandchildren many of whom are in full-time Christian ministry, and 20 great grandchildren, and many nephews and nieces and their children whom are also engaged in full-time Christian service. He was preceded in death by his parents, six siblings Nelson Miles, George Miles, Charles Miles, Trett Dobson, Ruth Krick, and Avis Sponable, and a grandson David Miles, son of Bruce and Donna Miles.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. at Grace Fellowship Church in Preston, Idaho at 16 North State Street under the direction of Webb Funeral Home. Burial will be in the Riverdale Cemetery. Memorials, in lieu of Flowers may be made to Frontier School of the Bible in John's name and will be used to assist married students in attending and completing their training at the Bible Institute where John faithfully served. The School's address is: PO Box 217, LaGrange, WY, 82221. Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at www.webbmortuary.com.