STILES, WILLIAM PIERCE (1884-1977)

STILES, WILLIAM PIERCE, Baptist minister, Doaktown, 1930-35; b. Stilesville, Westmorland Co., N.B., 6 Jan (or Jun) 1884, s/o David P. Stiles and Margaret MacFarlane; m. 1913, Jessie Anne Lutes; d. Apohaqui, N.B., 6 Apr 1977.

As a young man, W. Pierce Stiles studied in the United States and at Acadia University, but he was not ordained as a Baptist minister until 1919, at age thirty-five. He had pastorates at North River, near Petitcodiac; Wilson's Beach, on Campobello Island; and Keswick, N.B., before being invited to Doaktown as pastor in 1930. He spent five years ministering on the Miramichi, and when he departed, it was to answer a call to Jacksonville, N.B. His career was concluded by a lengthy pastorate at Lower Millstream. He retired at nearby Apohaqui, moving to Sussex in 1957.

When he died in 1977, at age ninety-three, Stiles left his wife, Jessie A. Lutes, a daughter, and two sons. Another son, Blair Stiles, died in action in Germany in World War II while serving in the RCAF.