Reynold P. Soleyn

Reynold Patrick Soleyn was born in the village of Rose Bank on the island of St. Vincent in the West Indies. He was the fifth son and sixth child of his mother Anna, née Mackenzie, and father, Daniel Soleyn. He was apprenticed at the age of fifteen to a printer and became a virtual artisan in the printing trade. While still a young man, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior as a result of the preaching of the Nebraskan missionary, the Rev. Donald Schonkwiler. He married Dorothy De Riggs in Kingstown, St. Vincent, in 1960. He immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, in 1963 and joined Trinity Baptist Church not long thereafter where he served as a faithful member for more than 40 years, eventually joining the Board of Deacons and serving as the superintendent of the Sunday School for many of those years. Reynold worked in a small print shop in New York City for 13 years before joining the duplicating department of Merrill Lynch, where he worked for 20 years. He maintained close ties with friends from St. Vincent, especially through his activities in the group, Evangelical Missionary Fellowship. After the tragic loss of his wife, Dorothy, in 1995, he settled into retired life. In 2005, he married Annafene Goodman, aka “Peach,” and they moved to Peach’s native South Carolina. There, in Moncks Corner, they joined Abiding Word Family Ministries, where he was ordained as a deacon, and continued to enjoy retired life. After Peach’s passing in April, 2023, Reynold relocated to Hampton, Virginia, but soon after arriving in Hampton, he became ill and never recovered. He departed this life quietly and peacefully in Williamsburg, Virginia. In addition to both of his wives, Reynold is preceded in death by his son Errol (1992), his daughter, Marie (Ann; 2020), his sister, Beatrice King, and his brothers, David, Winston, and Alvin. He is survived by his sons, Norval Soleyn and Joel Soleyn, his daughters, Donna Soleyn and Berna Scott, stepsons, Larry Milligan, and Douglas Goodman, his brothers, Edmund Soleyn and Alban Soleyn, his adopted sister, Leonore (Celie) John, his sisters-in-law, Celestie (Tena) Soleyn and Ettie Thomas, his sons-in-law, Kenneth Antrobus and Steven Scott, his daughter-in-law, Martine Soleyn, his grandchildren, Lottie Defreitas, Calvert Cruikshank, Yasmeen Benton, Brian Scott, Brandon Scott, Jahan Soleyn, and Romare Antrobus, his 10 great-grandchildren, and cousins, nephews, nieces, in-laws and friends too numerous to name, all of whom who loved him dearly and will miss him sorely.

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