Individual Details

From Legacy.com: Wiles, Sr., Charles The Very Reverend C. Preston Wiles, Dean Emeritus of the Cathedral Church of St. Matthew in Dallas, died peacefully Saturday after a brief hospitalization. He was 93 years old and lived in Dallas with his beloved wife, Mary McCallum Wiles. Dean Wiles was Rector and Dean of St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral from 1964-1987. During his time there, he expanded the scope and vision of the Cathedral ministry to establish a center for continuing education and pastoral concern for laity and clergy, built the parish membership to include an active ministry to Hispanic Christians, and created a dedicated living center for the elderly. Following retirement from full-time ministry, he was delighted to serve as associate rector for many years at St. Luke's Parish Dallas, where he continued to serve at the altar of his Lord joyfully until physically no longer able to. Born in New Market, Maryland in 1918, Dean Wiles graduated from Washington College in Chestertown, MD in 1939. He worked for several years as high school principal and teacher on Tangier Island in his beloved Chesapeake Bay. Dean Wiles began graduate study at The University of Virginia before enrolling in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1940. He served during WWII from 1940-1944 until washed overboard during submarine patrol off the Atlantic coast. A long convalescence ensued, and he spent over a year at Bethesda Naval Hospital before returning home to Maryland to finish his recuperation. Dean Wiles emerged from these experiences changed and pursued a calling to the ordained ministry. He finished his training for the ministry at Virginia Theological Seminary and was ordained priest in 1948. He then pursued advanced study in Theology at Duke University, receiving the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in 1951, specializing in Church History and Ethics. His academic writing centered on the theology and writings of Lancelot Andrewes and the Caroline Divines. He later wrote for a broader audience with tracts on the Eucharist, prayers for parish life, and his final work on the meaning and symbolism of the stained glass iconography at St Matthew's, "The Gate of Heaven." While a seminarian at Virginia, he served at St Paul's K Street Washington D.C., where happily he met and courted Mary McCallum, the rector's daughter. They were joined in matrimony at St Paul's in 1951. Instead of pursuing an expected career in academics, Dean Wiles felt called to the parish ministry. He was called to his first parish at St. Mary's Church in Burlington, N.J., a historic parish within the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, where he served for thirteen years. During his tenure there, he was President of St. Mary's Hall (later Doane Academy) the oldest girl's preparatory school in the United States, and guest lecturer in Church History at Philadelphia Divinity School. After being called later to the Cathedral in Dallas, Dr. Wiles served in numerous leadership capacities in the Diocese of Dallas and in the national Episcopal Church, among which as a member of the House of Deputies to General Convention for many years and on the Board of Trustees for General Theological Seminary in New York. As co-chair of the Prayer Book Committee of General Convention and member of the Standing Liturgical Commission, Dean Wiles worked tirelessly for the creation and eventual acceptance of the revision of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. Despite the anticipated controversy, Dr. Wiles did so because the 1979 Book of Common Prayer accomplished the important dual tasks of making the Episcopal services more accessible through use of modern English language while at the same time returning to the more ancient and catholic liturgies that restored the primacy of the Eucharist as the central act of worship in the Church. An inveterate lover of all sports, especially football, and all things Duke, his love for the water, the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the Chesapeake remained strong until the end. He celebrated his 93rd birthday joyfully this August past dining on lobster and clam chowder from the Atlantic Ocean. Beyond football, the Blue Devils, and the ocean, he mostly loved his wife, his family, and his Lord. He is survived by his beloved wife, the quiet and calm source of strength and support throughout his adult life, Mary McCallum Wiles; children, Mary Margaret Wiles, Ph.D. of Christchurch, New Zealand, C. Preston Wiles, Jr. M.D. of Dallas, and Wade Burgess Wiles, also of Dallas; grandchildren Michael Andrew Wiles of New Haven, CT, Anne Elizabeth Wiles, St. Andrew's, Scotland, Michael Wiles of San Antonio, and the new addition to the Wiles family, Wade and Charlotte's twins, Emma and Nathaniel Wiles. Visitation will be held at Sparkman Hillcrest Funeral Home from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Friday evening. Services will be held at St. Matthew's Cathedral at 11 o'clock Saturday morning, September 10, 2011 officiated by Diocesan Bishop, The Right Reverend James M. Stanton. Clergy White Stole. The family requests instead of flowers, donations be made to The Cathedral Organ Fund at St. Matthew's Cathedral: O worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness! Matthew 25: 23-25. "Well done, my Good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord!"

Birth	5 Aug 1918	New Market, Frederick Co., Maryland,
Marriage	29 Dec 1951	Washington, D. C. - Mary McCallum
Death	3 Sep 2011	Dallas, Dallas Co., Texas

Spouse	Mary McCallum (1924 - 2012)
Child	Charles Preston Wiles Jr. ( - )
Child	Mary Margaret Wiles ( - )
Child	Wade Burgess Wiles ( - )