The Great Teacher
The Reverend Yates Calvert Greer+ died on 25 April 2012 in Simi Valley, California, of a stroke. He was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on 13 August 1924, to Luther Cheatham Greer (Tennessee) and Jessie Louise Yates (Alabama). He had one brother, Luther, Jr. (deceased), and a sister, Ordway.
He graduated from Walden University with a Doctorate of Philosophy; he received a Magistri in Divinitate from the University of the South in Tennessee in 1952, and a Masters of Literature from Cambridge University, Cambridge, England. Other advanced studies included Oxford University, University of Geneva, University of Strasbourg, and University of Zurich.
In his academic life he received many honors, including the Fulbright Scholarship at Cambridge and was a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Fr. Greer+ served as Rector in three Episcopal Parish Churches: St. Thomas’, Greenville, St. Michael’s, Mobile, (both in Alabama) and the Church of the Holy Family, Miami, Florida.
He began a teaching career in California in 1964 and taught English and History at the San Rafael Military Academy. He moved to far Northern California in 1966 to teach Religion, Philosophy, and English for 17 years at the College of the Siskiyous (COS). From 1984-1989 he was the Academic Vice President at COS. He retired as Academic Vice President in 1989.
Fr. Greer+ and Judith, his wife, met at the college in 1978, when Judith enrolled in his Philosophy classes. They found that they had grown up seven miles apart in Minnesota: he in St. Paul and Judith in Minneapolis. They were married in 1982; In 2003 they moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, and became members of St. George’s Anglican Church.
Father Greer had grown up in the Catholic tradition of the Anglican faith and found a spiritual home at St. George’s. He worked closely with the Rector, Fr. Gordon Hines, and served the Parish for eight years as his assistant.
He taught Anglicanism classes, began a new program for the acolytes which included writing a study manual for them, wrote a Commentary on the Mass, and instructed all who had questions about the Church and the Anglican Faith. Fr. Greer+ is temporarily interred in the columbarium at St. George’s until Judith’s death when they will both be interred in the Union Cemetery in Long Lake, Minnesota. Fr. Greer+ is survived by his wife, Judith, his son Yates Jr., his daughter Christine, three grandchildren, Sean, Carrie and Courtney; and two great grandchildren, Hunter and Eli in addition to two stepsons, Charles and Todd.
His two books are:
- Acolyte Manual for Traditional Anglican Churches
- Liturgy of Holy Communion from the Book of Common Prayer
There is a Fr. Greer+ Memorial Fund set up at St. George’s Anglican Church in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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