John "Keat" Wiles

John Keating "Keat" Wiles was born September 1, 1950, in Louisville, KY to John and Ruth Wiles. He died May 3, 2025. Keat was the oldest of five children. He and his siblings, Tom, Virginia, Jim Bob, and Bill grew up moving around the southwest as his father pastored various congregations. For college he went to Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, OK, where he majored in music composition. The highlight of his time at OBU was singing with the Bison Glee Club-along with all the other shenanigans they got up to when they weren't singing.
He went on to earn his MDiv at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and his PhD in Hebrew Bible at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 1976 he met Carolyn Joy, the love of his life. They dated and fell in love across the miles between Fort Worth, TX and Kansas City, MO. On June 11, 1977, they were married in Fort Worth. In 1982 they welcomed their first child, Sarah. Keat finished his dissertation with Sarah on his knee as he typed. In 1982 Keat, Carolyn Joy, and Sarah moved first to the Philippines and then in 1983 to Indonesia where Keat taught on the faculty of Indonesian Theological Seminary in Semarang. They welcomed their second child, John Carl, in 1984.
In 1986 they returned to the United States, landing briefly in Louisville, KY before moving permanently to Wake Forest, NC in 1987 where Keat took a position teaching Old Testament at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Those were tumultuous years in Southern Baptist life and like many others at Southeastern and beyond, Keat was pushed out for refusing to deny his beliefs and principles.
The imperative to do justice and love mercy continued to shape his life as he used his intellect and skills to serve God in a different way. Keat graduated from UNC Law in 1995 and practiced criminal defense law with Cheshire Parker Schneider, PLLC in Raleigh, NC, for twenty-three years.
He and Carolyn Joy became part of Wake Forest Presbyterian Church where Keat taught a beloved Bible study class each week for more than three decades while they raised their children in Wake Forest. In 2014 they delighted in the arrival of their grandchildren, Zoë and Isaac Wiles, born to Sarah and her husband Joseph Childers.
Keat read widely and voraciously, enjoying everything from dense theological tomes to legal thrillers. Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics and Paul Tillich's Systematic Theology were volumes he returned to often. He had a lifelong love affair with music, listening to opera at full volume on Saturday mornings, going to Willie Nelson concerts with Carolyn Joy, composing pieces for worship at their local church, and after retirement playing trombone in RTOOT (The Really Terrible Orchestra of the Triangle). He and Carolyn Joy enjoyed traveling together in their later years, and he especially looked forward to the annual family gatherings at Topsail Beach in NC. He was often quiet and was never one to talk just for the sake of talking. A deeply kind man, he freely expressed his love to his family and dearest friends in both word and deed.
He is survived by his wife Carolyn Joy Wiles, son John Carl Wiles, daughter Sarah Winsett Wiles, son-in-love Joseph L. Childers, and grandchildren Zoë Winsett Childers Wiles and Isaac Walker Childers Wiles, as well as his siblings, Tom (Linda) Wiles, Virginia Wiles, Jim Bob (Lauri) Wiles, and Bill (Mary Anne) Wiles, and countless nieces, nephews, and dear friends. He was pre-deceased by his parents John C. Wiles and Ruth Keating Wiles.
His memorial service will be May 9 at 2pm at Wake Forest Presbyterian Church. His remains will be buried at the Wake Forest Cemetery following the service.
In lieu of flowers, Keat's family suggests that you honor his memory by sharing your love with someone and then spending the afternoon reading.