Death of Roy McGarrell

Roy Israel McGarrell, of Apopka, Florida, died at home on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. He was 91.

He was born in Friendship Village, the sister village to Buxton on the East Coast of the Demerara River in Guyana, South America. Roy was the third child of Oscar McGarrell, a farmer and chairman of the Local Authority of the Buxton-Friendship Village District, and Irene McGarrell (nee Gill), a homemaker.

He attended the Friendship Methodist School from kindergarten to sixth standard and the Georgetown Seventh-day Adventist School for the remainder of his elementary education. After a stint at Ray High School and earning his Teacher's Diploma from the Ministry of Education in 1955, he taught elementary school at the Enmore Government School from 1955 until 1959.

As a young man, Roy was an active member and officer of the Buxton Seventh-day Adventist Church. He held several leadership roles and was invested as a Master Guide. As his relationship with God grew, so did his desire for more education. And so, in 1959, he enrolled at the University of the Southern Caribbean (USC), formerly Caribbean Union College, in Trinidad, to pursue an Associate of Arts in Theology.

In 1962, he was ordained and credentialed as a minister of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. On June 25, 1962, he married the love of his life, Shirley Ann Martinborough. They wed at the Buxton Seventh-day Adventist Church, and three children were born into this union: André, Fern, and Faith-Ann.

After one year as principal of the Georgetown Seventh-day Adventist Elementary and Secondary Schools, he launched into fulfilling employment as a district pastor. In 1970, Roy returned to USC and became part of the first cohort of students in the newly introduced Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology. Upon completing the program in 1972, he returned to pastoral ministry in Guyana. From 1972 to 1976, he served as the Education and Stewardship Director of the Guyana Mission. In 1976, he was elected the first President of the newly established Guyana Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and the first native Guyanese in this role.

In 1980, Roy McGarrell left Guyana to pursue graduate studies at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. While at Andrews, he earned a Master of Arts in Systematic Theology and a Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Education.