Roger Loyd Garland

Roger was born in the hills of North Carolina as the youngest of five children. His parents owned a small farm on the side of a hill. When Roger was three, they moved to rural Maryland following other relatives there. Thus, Roger spent his childhood growing up in Maryland.

Roger became a Christian during a summer camp he attended, and he put his trust in God through Christ. This set the purpose for the rest of his life. While in high school, he was on a Youth for Christ quiz team. They did very well and their team won the Eastern Finals. That helped him to become grounded in the Word of God.

In his last year of high school, Roger’s English teacher approached him in the hallway about his college plans. He answered that no one in his family had ever attended college. Since he was the valedictorian of his class as well as the president of the student body, she exclaimed that he needed to go to college somewhere. So, she got busy and found him a scholarship at John Brown University, a decision that changed his life completely!

At John Brown University, Roger majored in Speech and Radio Production. During his senior year, he served as president of the student body and was once again named valedictorian. After he graduated, he went to Vieques, Puerto Rico to work at WIVV, which was the first Christian radio station in the Caribbean.

At this time the US draft was after him, so rather than waiting to be drafted, he enlisted in the army. The army sent him to the Army Language School in Monterey, California to study Vietnamese. On his first Sunday there, he visited a nearby church, where he saw Susan across the room and introduced himself. Their courtship developed rapidly, sparked by an immediate connection. Within nine months, they were married. Through the years their marriage blossomed into a very special relationship. Afterward, the army stationed them at Clark Airforce Base in the Philippines. One highlight there was that their first precious son, Roger Lowell, was born there a year later.

After being discharged from the army, Roger and Susan, after prayer, decided to go to Dallas Texas, where Roger attended Dallas Theological Seminary for four years. A highlight there was that their second precious son, John Richard, was born during their first year there. Their years in Seminary had many challenges with two small toddlers and limited income. While there, Roger also worked evenings supervising teenage boys at the Dallas Juvenile Detention Center.

Upon completing seminary and seeking God’s will, Roger and Susan joined Wycliffe Bible Translators. They completed two summers of linguistic training at SIL, which was Wycliffe’s program for new translators. Then came Jungle Camp, a wilderness adventure to prepare translators to do their work in isolated areas. It was a 3-month training program in southern Mexico, half at a base camp and the other half in an isolated living area with only their family. There they faced many challenging adventures as they learned how to live in this primitive situation. Then began the process of securing sponsors to provide for their financial support with Wycliffe and then left for Papua New Guinea (PNG) for a five-year term.

During their 13 years in PNG, they completed the New Testament for the Mountain Koiali people. Their two sons grew up there and graduated from high school. The linguistic center in PNG was a large center with over 1,000 expatriates with wonderful schooling for the boys. The Koiali village, where they spent about half their time, was a small native village with an airstrip, but no roads.

After completing the translation, they returned home and Roger became the Director of Communication for Wycliffe Bible Translators for 10 years. At that point, Bernie May, president of Wycliffe, invited Roger to join him in forming a sister organization to Wycliffe, which was later named The Seed Company. This organization focuses on supporting educated local language speakers, who would be able to do their own translation with less aid from a Wycliffe translator. Today the Seed Company has 300 employees and has done Bible translation work in approximately 2500 languages, which is about a third of the world’s languages. Praise God!

Roger retired 8 years ago when he was 80 years old. He remarked that he didn’t want to retire too soon, because he wanted to be part of what was happening. Two years ago, they moved to Lakeway, Texas, which is in the Austin area. Lakeway was beginning to feel like home to him.

One of Roger’s great joys was his family, with his 5 wonderful grandchildren, who are now young adults and, in the past few years, the wonderful experience of having 3 great grandchildren. Such a delight!

Another high spot that Roger enjoyed was travelling with Susan to many different places in the world. Their favorite place to travel was Paris, climbing the Eiffel Tower, walking along the Seine and exploring art museums together like the Musee d’Orsay.

Another highlight was being a member of Mariners Church in Irvine, CA. While there, they saw the church grow from 2,000 members to now a mega-church. Roger had the privilege of being on the Elder Board for 6 years and being a part of the building program as the large sanctuary was being built. Praise! God is good!

Those who knew Roger would describe him as joyful, energetic, kind and humble. He loved to tell stories and was enthusiastic about life, always ready to give a helping hand. Above all, he loved the Lord and wanted to glorify him.