The Reverend Dr. Robert Dwayne Tyus, 74, died December 26, 2022. He was born in Baldwin, Mississippi, to Robert George Tyus and Mildred Lindsey Tyus on August 6, 1948. Although his background was Baptist, Dwayne said, “I am a Cumberland Presbyterian by choice.” He began his higher education at Mississippi State in 1968, but eventually transferred to Athens State College (now University) in Athens, Alabama, and graduated with a pre-law and history degree. He married Guindolyn Freeman, a Cumberland Presbyterian, on July 18, 1975.

Dwayne began his working life as a newspaper man. After several years working for newspapers in Tupelo and Columbus, Mississippi, Dwayne served as circulation manager and staff writer for the Press Register in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and the News Courier in Athens, Alabama, in the mid-1970s. Primarily, he covered sports, football in particular.

New Hope Presbytery received Dwayne as a candidate August 21, 1977. He was licensed January 14, 1979, and ordained by New Hope Presbytery January 6, 1980.

Dwayne was an honorably retired member of Nashville Presbytery and was currently serving on the denominational Board of Stewardship, Foundation, and Benefits. He served the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in many other roles including moderator of several presbyteries, moderator of the Synod of the Southeast, stated clerk of Nashville Presbytery, on the General Council of Mission Synod, as Worship Director of the 1987 155th General Assembly, Moderator of the 2016 186th General Assembly (held in Nashville). He was a long-time member of the Board of Trustees of the Historical Foundation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America including several years as president. Dwayne was fascinated by history and had a particular interest in early Cumberland Presbyterian missions to Native Americans in Mississippi.

While attending Memphis Theological Seminary, Dwayne worked for Pat Owen at the Cumberland Presbyterian Resource Center. He graduated in 1980 but went on to complete a doctorate at Vanderbilt Divinity School in 1989 in the field of Pastoral Care and Counseling. His doctoral project was “After Merger: A Comparison of the Cumberland Presbyterian and Presbyterian Church USA Congregations in Mississippi, 1890-1927,” it focused on the growth and decline of the churches after the partial union, comparing those which remained Cumberland Presbyterian with those which went into the union.

Dwayne was a frequent contributor to the Cumberland Presbyterian magazine. Some of his major articles include “Rediscovering Our Faith: Creed,” (July 15, 1981), “Risen in the Church, Risen in Me,” (March 1991), and “Going to Galilee,” (March 2005). He wrote a series of thirteen Sunday school lessons with a focus on stewardship for the Board of Finance (now the Board of Stewardship).

Among the churches which had benefit of Dwayne’s pastoral leadership were New Bethlehem Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Newbern, Tennessee; Park Terrace Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Sheffield, Alabama; First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Florence, Alabama; New Providence Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Clarksville, Tennessee; Faith Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Metairie, Louisiana; Beersheba Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in Columbus, Mississippi; and St. Luke Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Madison, Tennessee. He retired from the St. Luke Cumberland Presbyterian Church, January 2020, but then, though an honorably retired member of Nashville Presbytery, served about two years as pulpit supply for Tusculum Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Nashville.