Rev Yorke still preaching at 90

AT 90, the Rev Arthur Yorke is still preaching and he has not grown weary as yet.

Yorke, who turned 90 on May 5, is the oldest serving minister in the Presbyterian Church (PCTT) and for him, serving is not just symbolic.

“My duties are equal to what the younger priests are doing.”

He is still preaching from the pulpit every Sunday, distributing his time equally among the five churches and five schools for which he has responsibility in the Sangre Chiquito pastoral region.

He preaches at three churches on the first and third Sunday of the month and at the other two on the second and fourth Sundays.

“In between I have funerals, baptism, prayer meetings and weddings. I also do house visits on a weekly or daily basis and serve communion to the shut-ins once a month.

"Each of the churches have little boards which meet regularly so, I also attend those meetings.”

The stay-at-home measures drastically reduced his duties, but he recalls conducting a wedding and a funeral during this period and having to put out the large following who wanted to attend both ceremonies. It was a good thing he did because the police passed shortly afterwards to ensure people were observing the protocols, he recalled.

This amazing senior citizens still drives himself to keep his many assignments. Sometimes, because the roads are long and lonely, he is accompanied by a church elder.

Although he has served longer than many people have lived, this widower and father of six children, including Appeal Court Judge Alice Yorke Soo-Hon, plus a sprinkling of grands, would have it no other way.

He said he is healthy, wants to keep his mind and brains active and for as long as he is able, he hopes that the church he has served for over 70 years would allow him to continue following his calling from God.

“I feel well, I feel strong. I visit the doctor regularly and on the last visit he did all kinds of tests and said everything is all right with me.”

Introduced to the ministry by the Canadian missionaries who established the PCTT, Yorke said one of the lessons they taught him was never to say no.

“I guess that is why I am still preaching 25 years after I retired,” he quipped.

Retired at the compulsory age of 65 in 1995, he was sent to assist the Presbyterian Church in Grenada until a replacement was found in 2002. When he came back, the church decided to rehire retired ministers – he was the first.

Sharing some memories of his life he said a little-known fact is that he grew up in the Tacarigua orphanage.

“My mother had five children and she could not maintain them. She was working with a ‘white lady’ who owned a big estate in Sangre Grande and this lady advised my mother to put some of us in the orphanage.

“My mother did – and that was the best thing she ever did, because at the orphanage I got a good education. I was able to attend a secondary school, St Joseph’s High School. When I left there, I was equipped for life.”

On leaving school and looking for work he saw newspaper ads for an exam for those interested in becoming postmen.

“I applied and wrote the examination and I came third out of about 3,000 people who wrote it."

He got the job and turned down offers from his friends for better-paying opportunities.

“I stayed at the post office because I felt I had earned it. I never left until I got that calling from God.”

While still employed with the post office, Yorke’s gift was recognised by Canadian missionary the Rev Edward Yoshioka, who recommended his appointment as a lay preacher in 1952. As his faith and conviction grew stronger, Yorke finally left his prized job as a postman and was ordained a minister in 1962.

He created history by becoming the first non-Catholic to be admitted to study at the St John Vianney Seminary at Mt St Benedict from 1973-1976.

Of his family, he said, “I am fortunate and blessed to have lived a good life. My late wife, Betty, and I had six children who did us proud. Three sons and three daughters.”

“Alice is an Appeal Court judge, Allison is one of the frontline nurses at the St George's Hospital, Washington, Anna is a teacher at the Curepe Presbyterian School, Anstey is a retired forest ranger, Allister used to work at the steel mill, which closed down, but is now doing his own business, and Allan...works in the registrar’s department."

In all of his 90 years, he said, he has never encountered anything comparable to the covid19 pandemic. Not even during the World War II, when people had to line up for ration with a card, were they ever confined to their homes.

It has even made him somewhat of a technical expert, recording his sermons and sharing with his congregation on social media platforms.

“I enjoy spending time with people and these days I miss the human interaction with my congregation. But I keep busy seeing about my dog, grandchildren and my garden.”