Wayne Oates was my advisor during Ph.D. studies at Southern Seminary. He was unfailingly gracious in that role. When it came time for me to settle on a topic for my dissertation, he invited me to lunch at a nice restaurant where I could never afford to go on a student budget. Deciding on a topic seemed so easy, as we conversed. He was always generous with his time and suggestions on the drafts of my thesis. When I would give him a rough draft of a chapter, he would read it within a few days and return it with thoughtful suggestions.

When Wayne met our oldest daughter, Betsy, he would kneel down so that he could talk with her "eyeball to eyeball", as he would describe it. His tenderness and joy in relating with her was evident, so that she still remembers those occasions.

My grandmother died in the middle of my classes one winter. Wayne encouraged me to take the time necessary to go to her funeral. I felt his support in my dealing with grief. Later, when I lost a friend through suicide, he gave me a copy of C.S. Lewis, A GRIEF OBSERVED. He wrote in the front: "To Bill Ratliff upon my having learned of your grief over the loss of your friend. With my personal participation in your loss in the fellowship of the hope of the Resurrection." Now, all of us participate in the loss of our teacher, mentor, and friend in the fellowship of the hope of the Resurrection.