It seemed we were going back in time, when my wife Barbara and I arrived for the 2:00 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023, graveside service for 80-year-old former-pastor Wayne Allen Nichols.
Wayne died at age 80 on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. He was from Kennesaw, Georgia, though born in Taylors, SC. He was an Assembly of God (AG) minister and most recently pastored First Assembly of God in Swainsboro, Georgia.
Pastor Wayne’s funeral tent stood at the edge of the Faith Temple Church, 5080 Sandy Flat Road, Taylors, SC. His wife Mary Bennefield Nichol’s body lay interred beside his intended space since May 4, 2017. She passed on at age 74 on May 1, 2017 when they lived in Dublin, Ga. They had resided in four states.
Wayne is survived by sons Brian Nichols (Julie) and Kevin Nichols (Tarsha); brother Ron Nichols (Linda); and grandchildren Hayden Nichols, Tyler Nichols, Lindsay Nichols, and Ryker Jump. Carmichael Funeral Home of Marietta, Ga., arranged the burial for Wayne, who lived last in Kennesaw, Ga.
A small crowd gathered on a pleasant day for Wayne’s graveside service led by his only sibling, his 7-years-younger brother, the Rev. Ron Nichols, an AG minister. Wayne had served as a music minister and pastor in AG churches.
A graveside service was held. No service for Wayne took place at Faith Temple’s old original church house that stood yards from his burial plot. That church house was built in 1957. Wayne sang with his late wife Mary, who played the piano many times in that building. They were married at Faith Temple, and I served as an usher in their wedding. The late Pastor James (“Jimmy”) H. Thompson, Faith Temple founder, presided over their union; Pastor Jimmy’s late wife, Mrs. Joanne Upton Thompson, directed the wedding.
According to Pastor Ron, Wayne and Mary’s meeting took place when Pastor Jimmy served as a guest preacher at Wayne and Ron’s father’s church, Faith Assembly (now called Destiny Fellowship) in Brevard, NC. The late Rev. Rudolf Nichols and Mrs. Gladys Pearson Nichols were Wayne and Ron’s parents.
Pastor Jimmy took Mary to Brevard to play the piano in that service. Mary, while still in high school, worked as a secretary-typist for Pastor Jimmy at his Faith Printing Company. She attended Faith Temple, along with her two sisters, Jeanette and Joyce. The three sang as “the Bennefield Sisters,” with Mary playing the piano.
When Wayne met Mary at that church service, “that was it,” Ron Nichols says. They fell in love, married, and Wayne became a youth leader at Faith Temple.
In the summer of 1962, I worked for 50 cents an hour at Mr. Earl Taylor’s Peach Shed located just before Hwy. 101 and Hwy. 290 diverge, north of Greer. I entered tenth grade in the fall of 1962 at Greer High School, Greer, SC, started working at Faith Printing Company after school and on Saturdays, soon bought a 1956 Chevrolet, and began dating Joyce Bennefield, a senior at Wade Hampton High School in Greenville, SC. Too many adjustments in that year hurt my school grades, but I was having an exciting time.
Wayne organized a men’s trio at Faith Temple: the late Frank White on baritone; Wayne on lead (melody); and me on tenor (actually the alto part). Mary played the piano for us. We sang Southern Gospel-style favorites and hymns and called ourselves “The Crusaders Trio.”
Frank White played trombone in the Blue Ridge High School band. I played trumpet and Sousaphone, and Wayne played saxophone. We didn’t perform with instruments but sang as a trio and enjoyed singing at Faith Temple.
The Bennefield Sisters had a counterpart in the Crusaders Trio: Wayne and Mary; Frank dated Jeanette, and I dated Joyce. We traveled once to Brevard to sing at Wayne’s father’s church. I recall Ron, Wayne’s brother, a blond-headed youth who was then 11 or 12 years old, coming out to greet us when we arrived at the Brevard church.
On a Sunday afternoon, Oct. 15, 1962, Wayne and Mary took Joyce and me to the opening of the Greenville-Spartanburg Jetport near Greer. We saw the Blue Angels fly that cool afternoon.At Faith Printing Company, I worked at times in the office with Mary, who served as office secretary and copy typist. She could type faster than anyone I had seen type. Her mother, Mrs. Wornelia Bennefield, worked in our collating department, putting book forms together. I enjoyed working with both ladies. Later, Wayne would organize his own printing company, and Mary would work with him.
The Rev. Jim and Tammy Bakker held a revival at Faith Temple during the fall of 1963 or spring of 1964. The church was packed, and the revival was held over for weeks (maybe three weeks). The Bakkers married on April 1, 1961, and left college to evangelize. I recall they said they left school before finishing studies in order to get the message of Christ to as many people as they could. During that revival, Jim and Tammy housed at Mary and Wayne’s small house on St. Mark Road in Taylor, SC. I suppose Mary and Wayne enjoyed their fellowship. Tammy Bakker had a flair for drama. She had some of the youth walk into the church, one night, with large banners. I remember this about Tammy Bakker: She wore no makeup at that time!
Later in life, my late wife Carol and I enjoyed interacting with Wayne and Mary at Wade Hampton Assembly of God (now Christian Assembly) where Wayne led music and Mary played the organ.
At the graveside funeral for Wayne Nichols, the gathering sang “Holy, Holy, Are You, Lord.”
“This is a celebration,” Pastor Ron Nichols said. He recalled a time when he, on trumpet, and Wayne, on tenor saxophone, played “Goodbye, World, Goodbye!”
“Wayne said goodbye to this world on Friday morning,” Ron said. “He was born in Chick Springs on June 27, 1943. He was named Wayne Allen Rudolph Nichols. Wayne was a defender, especially of Mary. Wayne was a lover of everything musical.”
Wayne had no musical degree but had talent.
“He was a faithful husband, unwavering; they did everything together. He excelled in music ministry and in ministry. He pastored well. Our loss is Wayne’s ‘gain of heaven,’” Ron said, adding these Scriptures:
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
“I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (2 Samuel 15:49b).
“And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:49).
“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).
Pastor Ron played a recording of Wayne singing “I Bowed on My Knees and Cried Holy.”
“I think he wanted to see Jesus first, then he could dance with Mary,” Ron said.
Kevin Nichols, Wayne and Mary’s younger son and a music promoter, told of his older brother Brian and Brian’s wife Julie “taking care of Dad for the last two years.”
Tyler Nichols, Brian and Julie Nichols’ son, offered a prayer, saying, “Thank you for the man, Wayne Nichols.”
Wayne and Marys’ son, Brian Nichols, a band director at Cobb County Schools, Georgia, posted this on Facebook on Nov. 18, 2023:
“The last few weeks have been a blur. I share less and less on the socials, but wanted to honor my dad. He moved here two years ago so we could help take care of him. He was a mile from our house in a senior living facility with caregivers who really cared for him. I’m glad we were close by. Yeah, it was stressful watching Alzheimers at work but it was an honor to care for him. So sad that a man who loved to tell a story lost his words.
“I’m thankful for our times together: church, barbershop, fish dinners and ice cream (my love of ice cream is genetic) and dinners at our house with family. Our last time together we sat outside on a beautiful afternoon and just spent time. I’ll prep myself for the big stuff (Christmas, etc.) but the small stuff will get me. It hit me that no one will look at us and say ‘you two look alike!’
“He served churches in SC, FL and GA — almost 60 years of ministry. Thank you to all for the kind words and remembrances you’ve sent. Thank you to Uncle Ron for a beautiful service in Taylors. Thank you to Julie for encouraging and supporting me. I have dad’s baton and will use it on an upcoming Christmas concert. I think he’d like that. But, in the end, I KNOW he’s in heaven with his Savior and mom.”
Here is the May 1, 2017, obituary for Mary Bennefield Nichols, Dublin, Georgia:
“Local funeral services for Mary Bennefield Nichols, age 74, will be held at 11:00 A.M. Wednesday, May 3, 2017, in the Chan Stanley Memorial Chapel of Stanley Funeral Home and Crematory. Rev. Rick Collins, Rev. Brad Nowell, and Rev. Walter Martin will officiate.
“The family will receive friends from 9:30 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at the funeral home. An additional funeral service will also be held at 11:00 A.M. Thursday, May 4, 2017 at Faith Temple Church at 5080 Sandy Flat Road, Taylor, SC 29687, with interment to follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends from 10:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. on Thursday, May 4, 2017 at Faith Temple Church.
“Mrs. Nichols was born on April 24, 1943, in Travelers Rest, SC. She was the daughter of the late Berdice Asbury and Gertrude Wornelia Coleman Bennefield. She has lived in Dublin, Georgia for the past 14 years. She was a devoted Pastor’s wife and secretary. She was a member of The Crossroads Church in Swainsboro. Mrs. Nichols passed away on Monday, May 1, 2017 at Serenity Place.
“Mrs. Nichols is survived by her husband, Rev. Wayne A. Nichols of Dublin, 2 sons, Brian (Julie) Nichols of Kennesaw, and Kevin Nichols of Macon, 2 sisters, Joyce Smith of Greer, SC, and Jeanette Bennett of Greer, SC, and 3 grandchildren, Hayden Nichols, Tyler Nichols, and Lindsay Nichols.
“In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made in memory of Mrs. Nichols to Rural Compassion Ministries at 5517 Farmer Branch Road #140, Ozark, MO 65721. Stanley Funeral Home and Crematory/Dublin.”
I miss Wayne and Mary. I value the examples they were to me.
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