George McRay Standley, who served five decades as a Texas Baptist pastor, died Feb. 28. He was 95. He committed his life to Christ at age 9 in Port Arthur, and he felt God’s call to the gospel ministry while still in high school. Standley was licensed and ordained in 1945 at First Baptist Church in Warren at age 17, just two months after graduating from high school. He began his pastoral ministry at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, while he was a student at East Texas Baptist College in Marshall. He regularly rode a bus part of the way to Tyler and then hitchhiked the rest of the trip so he could preach each Sunday. Standley later served at Pinehill Baptist Church in Henderson, First Baptist in Clayton, Pine Ridge Baptist in Sour Lake, First Baptist in Devers, London Baptist in New London and First Baptist in LaPorte. For the last 30 years of his ministry, he was the bivocational pastor of Caney Creek Baptist Church in Chester. In retirement, he served as a volunteer chaplain at Tyler County Hospital in Woodville. He was married to his high school sweetheart, Ola Jean Swearingen, 65 years before her death in 2012. He is survived by son Dale Standley and wife Bertie of Silsbee; daughter Lynette Wasson and husband Ben of El Dorado, Ark.; son Royce Standley and wife Kathy of Chester; son Richard Standley and wife Janet of Silsbee; and son David Standley and wife Karen of Warren; 11 grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren; and one sister, Beverly Reese.
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