DATE: Wednesday, April 30, 1997             TAG: 9704300441

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

DATELINE: VACAVILLE, CALIF.                 LENGTH:   38 lines

THOMAS W. FRYER

Dr. Thomas W. Fryer, former pastor of West End Baptist Church, Suffolk, Va., died from complications of pneumonia on April 20, 1997. He was 89.

Dr. Fryer is survived by his wife, Pauline Harp Fryer; a son, Thomas W. Fryer Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla.; a daughter, Mary Ann Young of Vacaville; a sister, Mary Parker Williams of Mount Pleasant, S.C.; five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by another daughter, Laura Frances Skipper of Murrell's Inlet, S.C. He was born in Chadbourn, N.C., on Jan. 14, 1908, the son of Matthew Alexander Fryer and the former Frances Etta Parker.

For over 40 years, Dr. Fryer followed his calling to the Southern Baptist Ministry. He was a powerful preacher and a particularly able church builder, completing building programs in several of the churches he served. Dr. Fryer began his ministry as a circuit preacher in the coal fields of southwest Virginia. He pastored churches in Scottsburg, Va., Martinsville, Va., Dunn, N.C., New Bern, N.C., Danville, Va., Miami, Fla., Florence, S.C., in addition to Suffolk. Following his retirement, he undertook several interim pastorates in the Orlando, Fla., area.

In 1947, Dr. Fryer was commissioned Ambassador of Goodwill by the city of New Bern to the city of Bern, Switzerland. He was subsequently invited to the White House by President Harry Truman to brief the president on this post-World War II goodwill mission. In November 1948, on the Sunday following President Truman's defeat of Thomas Dewey for the presidency, Truman detoured to New Bern on his way to Key West, Fla., to worship in Dr. Fryer's church.

Dr. Fryer studied at Roanoke College in Salem, Va., and at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He was awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree by Roanoke College in 1954.

In lieu of flowers, the family wishes memorial donations to be made to the West End Baptist Church, 105 St. James Ave., Suffolk, Va. 23434. Funeral arrangements are pending. KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY

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