Obituary-Reverend Richard (Alexis) Tinker

Born 23 March 1930 in New York City

Died 26 August 2011 in West Hempstead NY

Richard Tinker (Lawrence Richard ´49) died August 26th, 2011, at the age of 81. He is survived his wife Lourice (Larisa), a native of the Holy Land. Richard had lived in West Hempstead, Long Island, for nearly 40 years. He was a 1953 graduate of Marist College.

In 1965 Richard was ordained a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church of Antioch at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Brooklyn, where he served as an assistant priest for many years.

In 1973 Father Richard began a mission church in his attic, furnished as a chapel.  The mission eventually became St. John Orthodox Church in Uniondale, which later moved to Levittown. In time Richard took the name Father Alexis.

Richard commuted from his home to serve several other communities in Long Island. In addition to his pastoral ministry, he was employed as a full-time secondary school teacher in East New York.

By 2000 Richard retired because his health was deteriorating.

Obituary: August 27, 2011 WEST HEMPSTEAD, NY [OCA]

Priest Alexis Tinker, a retired priest of the Diocese of New York and New Jersey, fell asleep in the Lord on the afternoon of Friday, August 26, 2011.

Father Alexis was born on March 23, 1930. He was ordained to the priesthood at Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral, Brooklyn, NY in 1965. He served as an assistant priest at the cathedral for many years, while also assisting at Zoodos Peghe Greek Orthodox Church.

Among his other assignments, he served as interim pastor of Holy Trinity Church, East Meadow, NY, and pastor of Saint Andrew Church, Dix Hills NY, from 1982 to 1984. During his pastorate in Dix Hills, the first stage in the construction of the current log church of the parish was completed.

In addition to his pastoral ministry, he also was employed as a full-time secondary school teacher in East New York. He is survived by his beloved Matushka Laurice.

Visitation will be held at Holy Trinity Church, 369 Green Ave., East Meadow NY, on Tuesday, August 30, at 2:00 p.m., at which time a Panikhida will be celebrated. The Order of the Funeral of a Priest will be celebrated at 6:00 p.m. Visitation will continue until 9:00 p.m.

His Grace, Bishop Michael of New York and New Jersey, will preside at the Divine Liturgy on Wednesday, August 31, at 11:00 a.m. Interment will follow at Saint Charles Cemetery, Farmingdale, NY.

May the memory of Father Alexis be eternal!

The vision of St. John Orthodox Church was realized in 1965, when Father Richard Tinker was ordained to the Holy Priesthood. Father Richard, whose wife is from the Holy Land, became aware of our community in Long Island through friends such as Richard and Yvonne Colabella.

Upon knowing that Father Anthony Bucci was about to move to Long Island, Father Richard secured permission from His Eminence, Metropolitan ILYAS (Kurban), to have Father Anthony be the Mission Priest. The first Divine Liturgy was celebrated in August 1966 in a space rented from the Hempstead Reformed Church. Unfortunately, in 1968, due to the lack of a church building for worship, the Mission was dissolved.

Late in 1972, hope ushered in as Father Richard Tinker and his wife Laurice moved to West Hempstead from the Bronx. In 1973, the Mission restarted, and the first Divine Liturgy was held in Father Richard´s attic, which was furnished as a Chapel. In this decade, the faithful of St. John Orthodox Church, eager to maintain their faith and hold their worship services, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in several places, renting churches in different locations in Long Island, including Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in East Meadow. It was finally decided that a church property needed to be purchased in order to serve the needs of the growing community.

In 1979, pious individual parishioners and the Ramallah Club of Hempstead succeeded in raising funds for the church building, and a property was purchased at 560 Uniondale Avenue in Uniondale, NY. The building, which was a furniture store, was remodeled and furnished as St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church. In January 1980, the Church Temple was consecrated by His Eminence, Metropolitan PHILIP (Saliba), and this church building lasted for 26 years as the spiritual home of the faithful.

In 1980, Father Richard Tinker was transferred to St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, NY. His assistant, Father Richard Simmons, became the Parish Priest. In 1981, Father Paul Tarazi became the Parish Priest, and served the church in that capacity until 2001. In that same year, for the first time, and with the financial help of the Ramallah Club of New York, St. John Orthodox Church purchased a Parish House (Rectory) in East Meadow, NY. In October 2001, Father George Makhlouf became the Parish Priest, and moved into the newly purchased Rectory.

Memory Eternal: Fr. Alexis Tinker
eulogy by Nilus on August 27, 2011

It is with great sadness that we announce the repose of the Priest Alexis Tinker. Fr. Alexis reposed in the Lord on Friday afternoon.

Fr. Alexis was the third full-time rector of the parish, and under his guidance, our current “log-cabin” temple was designed, selected, and erected. (Father is pictured above celebrating the blessing of the ground for our church.) You may read about his time at St. Andrew, as well as about the other priests who served St. Andrew over the years,at our Former Pastors page.

Fr. Alexis time with us was characterized by warmth, love, and support for a small but burgeoning parish, and now we pray for his salvation and for the comfort of his family. The funeral arrangements are as follows.

All services will be held at Holy Trinity Church, East Meadow:
Tuesday, August 30

2:00 PM    Reception of the Body into the Temple, followed by a Panikhida
2:00 to 5:00 PM    Visitation hours
6:00 PM    Order of the Funeral for a Priest
 

Wednesday, August 31
11:00 AM —Liturgy of the Departed, celebrated by His Grace Bishop Michael. Burial will follow at Saint Charles Cemetery, Farmingdale NY.

Grant rest eternal in blessed repose, O Lord, to the soul of your servant, the Priest Alexis, and make his memory to be Eternal! May his soul dwell with the blessed! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Priest Alexis Tinker
Rector, 1982 — 1984

Fr. Alexis Tinker was Rector during an important period in the life of the Parish, in which a new log-structure Church was selected, obtained and put into use. In addition to his duties as pastor, Father was also employed as a full-time secondary school teacher in East New York.

Father Alexis was born on March 23, 1930, and ordained in 1965 at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral (Antiochian) in Brooklyn, NY, where he continued to serve as an assistant priest for many years. At the same time, Father assisted at a nearby Greek Orthodox Church (Zoodos Peghe) on 18th Street. After lengthy service in these Churches, Father began a new ministry out of his home in West Hempstead, NY, and this developed into Holy Annunciation Church (later named St. John Church), now located in Uniondale, NY. Father Alexis then served as an interim priest at Holy Trinity Church in East Meadow, NY, for a period of three months, before being assigned to St. Andrew in Dix Hills, NY. At the beginning of this assignment, he had served these various churches a total of seventeen years.

Living in West Hempstead with his wife, Lourice (Larisa), Fr. Alexis commuted to St. Andrew, which at that time was the furthest most eastern Orthodox parish on Long Island. His ministry carried him even further east, as far as Riverhead, to which he traveled periodically to bring Holy Communion to the mother of Paul Malushizky, who was living in a nursing home at that time. He also recalls offering prayers at the repose of Justo, the beloved husband of Helen Campo.

During Father Alexis time as pastor, acquisition of the new Church building came about. The log-style Church, originally proposed by David Linke, was ideal because it was economical and consistent with the desire of the congregation for a traditional structure. Father Alexis recalls asking John Protopapas to design a roomy Sanctuary area for ease when censing, something that every priest who has served here is sure to have appreciated. The new Church was put together by a father–and–son team, which traveled for this purpose from the Adirondack region, where the supplier was located. One evening, after the installation of the new Church building, the parishioners decided it was time to move and formed a procession of sorts, each person taking a liturgical item and carrying it to the new location (across the parking lot from the old Church, currently the Parish Hall). After the procession to the new Church, Vespers was served and then a meal.

In May 1982, Father Alexis was reflecting on Pascha when he wrote the following:

Dear Friends, I have just celebrated my second Pascha with you. No use talking about it. I will savor the memories and relive the experience until the Lord calls me to a heavenly Pascha. And even after that, I will remember. I cannot get over how you are able to pull a rabbit out of a hat and surprise me anew. Just when I think I had you all figured out! Maybe I am not used to your style. I love it! I love it! What a beautiful Agape you made! What generosity, concern, love, community. What a bunch you are! And I thank you for the outpouring of yourselves on behalf of one another. The Lord looks down and sees that, and loves you for it.

Obituary constructed from several sources collected by J David Kammer

Source: Original Marists All Site

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