ABWE - Association of Baptists for World Evangelism

Max Tucker, ABWE missionary to the Gambia

On Friday, 22 July, 2011, Max Tucker, ABWE missionary to the Gambia, walked to the ABWE Guest House near Banjul in The Gambia, West Africa as he did nearly every morning. He reminded my husband, Wally, and me of when we were to meet Tuckers and Child Evangelism Fellowship missionaries, Paul and Sandy Rog for supper that night. He spoke of Nola and his kids. He made a few jokes and we said, “See you later.”

At midday, Max went for a walk on the beach as he often did. This was more than just exercise. The beach walk was his praise and prayer time with the Lord. As he set foot on the sand in front of the Senegambia Hotel, he collapsed on the beach. A European tourist raced to where he lay. Hotel staff arrived and gave artificial respiration, but he was already gone. The European woman found his ID card and cell phone and hit the first recall button: Paul and Sandy Rog. The caller asked, “Are you a friend of Max Tucker?” When Paul replied that he was, the woman said, “He has collapsed on the beach.” Sandy phoned Max’s wife Nola who set off in the car with a water bottle thinking he was likely dehydrated.

Soon after Nola arrived at the beach, Max was placed in an ambulance and taken to a local clinic. Wally and I rushed to the clinic as soon as the Rogs called us. I joined Nola in a doctor’s office where he gently explained that Max had a massive heart attack and would have suffered no pain. Nola climbed into the ambulance to say her goodbyes. The following hours are a blur of retrieving personal items and official documents, notifying the American Embassy, contacting the Tucker children in the United States, keeping in touch with the ABWE office, and getting to the major downtown hospital through processions and parades in connection with the July 22 national holiday. When we finally got to the hospital, we were first directed to a crowded Emergency Room where Max’s body was on a trolley surrounded by curtains. Nola stepped in to see him once again. I was told to go out to a shop to buy a plastic bag for his clothes. At a desk in a ward full of sick patients, Nola answered questions while a doctor filled in forms. We then were taken to the morgue. Death is never pretty, but in countries where embalming is not usually done, decisions have to be made very fast, and the niceties found in Western countries are missing.

The Rogs continued to help in many ways including remembering a local mortician—a rarity in The Gambia—whom they had met recently. This capable man handled all the details, and it became possible to wait until family members and ABWE administrators were able to arrive to share in the celebration of Max’s life.

Max walked along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, July 22 until about 1:30 pm,then the words of Robert Selle’s song became reality:

“Just think of stepping on shore, and finding it Heaven, of touching a hand and finding it God's; of breathing new air and finding it celestial; of waking up in glory and finding it home.”

Max Walter Tucker

August 30, 1958 to July 22, 2011

Max was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. At five years of age, he accepted Christ as Savior. From an early age he knew he wanted to be a teacher

Following high school, Max graduated with a BA in Elementary Education from Faith Baptist Bible College, Ankeny, Iowa in 1980. Max met Nola Hartwig in their freshmen year of college. They married on May 31, 1980 at Lake Hills Baptist Church, Schereville, Indiana.

Max taught school for 15 years in two Christian schools in the Kansas City area. During that time, he earned an MA in education from Pensacola Christian College.

In 1985, the Tuckers went to the Dominican Republic for a one-year teaching assignment. By 1993, they felt God’s calling to take part in another short-term teaching position overseas. This time the venue was ABWE’s work in The Gambia, West Africa. Nola was familiar with ABWE since her uncle Frank Hartwig and his wife Nancy had already given many years of faithful service in the Philippines and ABWE head office.

Following their two year short-term assignment, they returned, in 1999 as career missionaries to continue to teach at the MK school in Ndungu Kebbeh. In 2005, the Lord opened a door for church planting in Kerr Serign, outside Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. This had grown into   an ABWE International Bible Fellowship. Max also served as a Business Facilitator for ABWE Mission. He was the West Africa Regional Conference Coordinator in April 2011. He wore each hat well.

Max loved reading and studying the Bible, playing tennis, travelling to many parts of the world, and most of all, being with people. Max touched so many lives with his smile and trademark sense of humor.

He built excellent relationships with both Gambians and the expatriate community. He never saw races, color, or age distinctions. AS one local young man put it, “Pastor Max always shook my hand” (clearly implying that others didn’t.) A businessman remarked, “Max was a kind, caring, compassionate man. Another commented that Max brightens up the place or the day.

Max and his beloved wife, Nola, were married for more than 31 years. They have four children: Benjamin (wife Tarah), Sarah (husband Eric) Robinson, Tobias, and Abigail, and one treasured grandson, Caleb.

A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 3 pm at the ABWE Learning Centre in Kerr Serign, with the burial immediately following at the Christian Cemetery in Banjul.

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