Obituary of John H. Ryan

John H. Ryan, a lifelong believer and member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, was 93 when he passed on June 8 at his home in Bronx, New York. He would have turned 94 on July 6. John was born and raised in Montserrat, West Indies. He was the second youngest of nine children born to Quamina and Catherine Irish Ryan and the first in the family to graduate from college. He graduated from the Caribbean Training College in Trinidad and then earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, with the goal of enrolling in Loma Linda University to become a medical doctor. Unfortunately he was denied entrance due to their limited quota of six black students a year. In 1949, he married Edna A. Rice, a Bible worker for Northeastern Conference. They were active members and leaders in the Bethel Church in Brooklyn where they started a health food store and had a son named Dennis who died at age 7. During that period, John developed his passions for reading, writing, singing, piano and gardening. He presented concerts in New York City, wrote his memoirs and could always be found working in his garden or reading in his extensive library. After reading Ellen White's books, they were strongly impressed to move from the city and raised four more children---Denise (deceased), Annette, Stephen, Celeste---and several foster children in upstate New York, integrating Delaware County in 1966. John worked as a manager in the New York City Housing Authority under Mayor Ed Koch during the week and spent his weekends upstate, sharing stories about his work week, leading family worship and tending a football field-sized vegetable garden that fed his family year round. The Ryans baked, canned, froze, shared and stored food in the root cellar; kept goats, chickens and sheep for sheering; planted apple, pear, peach and cherry trees; and raised their children vegetarian and organic long before it was popular. They held home church for many years, then "discovered" and joined the Honesdale (Pa.) church in the Pennsylvania Conference. Edna later migrated to the Ellenville (NY) church in Northeastern Conference, but John remained an active Sabbath School teacher, preaching elder and pianist/soloist in the Honesdale church until he wasn't able to travel well. They sent all their children to Blue Mountain Academy and three to Columbia Union College (now WAU). John's favorite saying was: "Father knows best." His favorite "meal" was: "Stewed duck and paragraph." His favorite Bible text was Psalm 11:1, "In the Lord put I my trust." And his favorite hymns, Psalms and poems were too many to name. But he loved to recite them all! Back in the Bronx during retirement, he had a close circle of friends who were with him and cared for him in his last years. He always led them in welcoming the Sabbath, counseled them, took them food from his city garden and wowed them with his homemade zucchini bread, Caribbean coconut tarts and dinner roasts from scratch! The family appreciated their friendship, love and support for him and know that when the trumpet sounds he will awake from his sleep and expect all who loved him---from Honesdale to the Bronx, and all points in between, to meet him in the Earth made new, where he'll no doubt call for worship to begin. Visitation will be on Thursday, June 19, 2014 at the Honesdale Seventh Day Adventist Church, 375 Dunn Rd, Honesdale, PA, 18431-3240 from 10-11:00am. A funeral service will follow at the church at 11:00am. Interment will be privately held. Uncle John, yours was a long life well lived. We love you well, but Jesus loves you best. Goodnight. Goodnight. Goodnight. Arrangements were under the direction of Colonial- Bryant Funeral Home, for further information please call 845-434-7363 or visit www.colonialbryantfuneralhome.com.