When the word of Dr. Oates' death came, Barbara and I sat for a long time and talked about Wayne and Polly and their children. Barbara commented to me, "In another day his funeral would not have been in the church where he worshiped. It would have been in Alumni Memorial Chapel at Southern Seminary. It would have been an Affair of State in which the educational community and the religious community celebrated the life of one who introduced the insights of the Christian religion and the behavioral sciences to each other. All those who had taught with him would have been honorary pall bearers, the combined choirs would have sung, and the chapel would have been packed by people and representatives of those institutions that Wayne Oates' teaching and writing had touched." My wife is right. A prince has fallen in the church and on this day all who love people, and are committed to the ministry of the Galilean have lost a friend.

Then he grinned and said, "Let me tell you why we're having all this trouble. It all began when Southern Baptists decided not to have any educational requirements for ordination to the ministry but went ahead and built theological seminaries." I laughed and thanked him both for the encouragement and the insight. He was right, then and now. I admired him, respected him, learned from him, and will miss him. God bless his memory on this day.