Obituaries: Storm, Lyles, Hopper, Scott

image_pdfimage_print

Ralph Storm, 86, died Jan. 7 in Corpus Christi. A Baylor University graduate, he was a Sunday school teacher and deacon chairman. A staunch supporter of Baylor, for years the oilman often flew himself and his wife, Jean, to Waco to visit his daughters and attend all Baylor’s home football games. Ralph StormThey also endowed the Ralph and Jean Storm Chair of Mathematics. He served on as a Baylor trustee/regent for 27 years between 1970 and 2000. He received Baylor’s Distinguished Alumni Award, Herbert Reynolds Service Award and W.R. White Award. In 2007, he and his wife (posthumously) received the Founder’s Medal. He was preceded in death by his wife of 53 years; brothers, James, Wash, Bob, Jack and Walter; and sister, Ann Reagan. He is survived by his daughters, Susan Guyton and Kathy Sley; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Carter Lyles, 87, died Jan. 9 in Carrollton. A graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, he was pastor of Antioch Baptist Church near Leonard, First Baptist Church of Cookville, First Baptist Church of Paradise, carter lyles130Carter LylesTemple Baptist Church in Tyler, First Baptist Church in Naples, First Baptist Church in Decatur and Bethel Baptist Church in Clardy. He also was director of missions for Red River Baptist Association in Paris 26 years until his retirement in 1997. In retirement, he continued to lead worship at the Corinthians Retirement Community in Carrollton. He was preceded in death by his six siblings; his wife of 50 years, Doris; his second wife, Clara; and his grandson, Eric Lyles. His is survived by his sons, Tom, Ron and Paul; daughter, Elaine Dean; 10 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Orville Scott, 80, died Jan. 12 in Grand Saline. During his long career in denominational communications, he directed the Baptist General Convention of Texas public relations office and the BGCT’s news and information service. orville scott mug130Orville ScottHe also worked for the Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina, where he was editor of Charity and Children. He was a noted poet, and for several years, the program of the Texas Baptist Evangelism Conference featured a poem he wrote using that year’s theme as its inspiration. In retirement, he collected his poems in a book, Autumn at the Lake and Other Poems. He also was a deacon and Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church in Richardson and later at First Baptist Church in Canton. He was preceded in death by his brother, Donald. He is survived by his wife, Emma Jean; sons, James and John; daughter, Elizabeth Steadman; sisters, Wanda Gray and Shirley Williams; brothers, Lane and Mervin; and five grandchildren.

John David Hopper, 80, died Jan. 10 in Houston. After graduating from college, he spent a year as a missionary in Cuba, where he became fluent in Spanish and discovered an interest in working with people from different cultures. john david hopper130John David HopperHe attended Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California, where he continued to work with Spanish-speaking people. After graduating from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, he and his wife, JoAnn, went to Europe in 1965 as missionaries. He taught at International Baptist Theological Seminary in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, until 1970, when the couple began their work among the Baptist churches of Eastern Europe. In 1988, he returned to Ruschlikon as the seminary’s president, and led the school’s move to Prague in 1995. In total, the Hoppers spent 32 years as missionaries, and in 1992 were appointed among the first missionaries of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship after their resignation from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Foreign Mission Board. A lover of languages, he spoke Spanish, German, French, Italian, Esperanto, Russian, Romanian, Serbo-Croatian and Czech. He also read Latin, Greek and Hebrew. After retirement, he moved to San Antonio and became a member of Trinity Baptist Church. He was preceded in death by his sister, Ruth Sylvest; and brother, Thomas. He is survived by his wife of 56 years; sons, John David Jr., Joel and Timothy; three brothers; and seven grandchildren.


We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.

Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.