Early Life Arlington Rexford Greene was born on August 28, 1930, in Mandeville Hospital located in the parish of Mandeville, Jamaica, West Indies. If asked, he would say he was from Newport, a small village in Manchester where he grew up. He was the ninth and last child of John Henry Greene and Millicent Ford Greene. He grew up with six older sisters and two older brothers. In descending order, they were Gertrude (Gertie), Floris (Flossy), Shirleigh, Valda, Urceline (Urcie), Roy, Marjorie (Madge), and Veronica (Ve). They were raised in a small home with extensive acreage and so he remembers spending most of his childhood outside playing with friends and family. He enjoyed playing cricket, marbles, and chase, as he called it. His favorite outdoor activity was going into the bushes to find all kinds of fresh fruit to pick and eat. Growing up, his chores included feeding the goats and chickens, chopping wood, milking the goats and cows, and carrying water from the tank to the house. He always said their home was not large, but Mama made it warm and comfortable. Early Church Life Arlington was born and raised a Seventh-day Adventist. He remembers Friday nights were spent welcoming the Sabbath with hymns accompanied by a guitar and other homemade instruments. Education Arlie attended Bethabra Elementary School, West Indies Training College High School, and West Indies College, (now Northern Caribbean University) where he met his future wife. In college he studied accounting and after graduation, worked for the college in the administrative offices. Much later in life he also attended Atlantic Union College through the Adult Degree Program. Family Life Arlington married Leila Fay Crarey in 1955 in a small family ceremony at Hope Gardens, Kingston, Jamaica. They were married for sixty-eight years until she passed away last year. Their marriage produced five children-Garth (Renee); Michelle Schouburgh (Neville); Kevin (Diane); Darren (Jeannette); and Curt (Janice). Many years later they were blessed by the addition of another daughter, Annette Bennie (Edgar). Their union eventually produced ten grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. Many others regarded them as parents and grandparents because their door was always open. Work Life Jamaica In 1955, after leaving West Indies College, Arlington accepted a position as an accountant at Andrews Memorial Hospital, a Seventh-day Adventist institution in Kingston. He would later return to Mandeville after accepting a call from the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventist. His next post would be at the East Jamaica Conference, also in Kingston, before accepting what would become his final posting in Jamaica at the West Jamaica Conference. There he worked as the Conference Treasurer, traveling to the churches located in Montego Bay and the surrounding areas each Sabbath, sometimes taking his family with him and having picnics along the way. The Bahamas In November 1964, Elder Greene accepted a call to become the secretary/treasurer of the Bahamian Mission in Nassau. And so, with his wife and now three children; Garth, Michelle, and Kevin, they moved to the Bahamas. He worked and lived in Nassau, Bahamas helping to build up churches throughout the islands. While there he and his wife added to their family again, welcoming Darren and Curt. New York After three years, he received a call from the Northeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventist in New York City. Nineteen sixty-seven and 1968 would be busy years. First, they moved back to Jamaica to secure visas, then he would travel to New York to begin working as the new conference auditor and to secure housing for his now family of seven. After three months of separation, they all arrived in New York in the Spring of 1968, setting up a temporary home in Brooklyn before moving to the North Bronx and eventually to St. Albans, Queens. In his new position, he would have to visit all the churches throughout the northeastern region, including all of New York State, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, which meant being away from home quite often. His work included auditing the churches financial records, training new church treasurers, running workshops, and being a member of conference committees. Another important position he held through the conference was proprietor of the Camp Victory Lake Snack Bar, every summer for ten days. His wife made vege-burgers from scratch; French fries were always on the menu along with the worlds best milkshakes. The whole family was usually behind the counter of the most popular spot on campus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On June 30, 1984, Pastor Greene was ordained as a minister at Victory Lake Campground in Hyde Park, New York surrounded by family. Later Church and Family Life Soon after moving to New York, Pastor O.E. Gordon invited Elder Greene to join the Jamaica SDA Church in Queens and assist with leadership. Along with his work at the conference office, he became an elder at the Jamaica Church, helped with the treasury department, sang in the choir, and taught an adult sabbath school class. In 1973, he and his wife purchased a home in St. Albans, Queens, New York so they could be closer to the church. Several years later, the conference office also moved to Queens. In the summer of 1976, the Jamaica SDA Church and the Springfield SDA Church held evangelistic meetings that resulted in the birth of a new company of Seventh-day Adventist believers, South Ozone Park Mission, which became the South Ozone Park Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1978. Elder and Mrs. Greene would make this new church their home. While there they helped to build its membership, purchase and refurbish the church building, and eventually celebrated its mortgage burning. He became the first elder, worked with the treasury department, sang in the choir, which his wife directed, and taught a sabbath school class. As they had done in the past, they both became part of the fabric of the church. Elder and Mrs. Greene strongly believed in Christian education. All their children attended Seventh-day Adventist elementary, high school and college (at least undergraduate). Garth started in Montego Bay, Jamaica and Michelle started in the Bahamas at Bahamas Academy. In the U.S., the children attended R.T. Hudson and Linden-Jamaica Elementary schools, Northeastern Academy and finally Atlantic Union College in Massachusetts. When traveling for work, Elder Greene would drop by AUC to visit with any of his children attending AUC whenever possible. Those visits usually involved an off-campus meal. Arlington Greene loved his family. He always said that the most important thing to him was that his children knew the family home was always open to them no matter what. He played the guitar and the harmonica. He loved music and filled his home with it especially during sabbath hours, including The Kings Heralds, Dell Delker, The Breath of Life Quartet, choral music, hymns, and the great organ music of Virgil Fox. Throughout his time working in New York, he had the opportunity to make new friends and rekindle old friendships from his time in Jamaica. Most were developed through his involvement with the West Indies College Alumni Association and the many activities they sponsored. Elder Greene was a friendly and sociable man who enjoyed a good joke or prank with his cohorts, Pastors Roy Ashmeade and Arthur Morgan. Playing dominos was also an intrinsic part of his life. Whenever his wife could not find him, he was probably playing dominos with friends or family. Arlie also loved cars and dabbling with mechanics. Over a lifetime he bought, sold, and crashed more cars than most. He loved fruits of all kinds. The first thing he did after retirement was to plant a garden including mango trees, several citrus trees and sugar cane. He could peel an orange to perfection and then eat it with the juice running down his arms. Arlington Greene was a devoted man who did his best to protect, care and provide for his family. In the summer of 1995 after forty years of service to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Elder and Mrs. Greene retired and moved to Palm Bay, Florida. Although retired, their work continued through their service to the Palm Bay SDA Church. And so, "Let not your heart be troubled: You believe in God; believe also in me. In my fathers house there are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also." John 14:1-4. He leaves to mourn his two daughters and four sons, along with their spouses; grandchildren- Marsha, Sean, Andrew (Leslie), Marc (Terry), Arielle, Samantha, Tianny (Allan), Ivan (Lorraine), Jared (Kharcye), and Eric (Isabella); his great-grandchildren- Michael, Brandon, Maya, David, Jasmine, Karah, Jaden, Kai, Siena, Ava, Allan Jr (AJ), Ivy and Leila; his sister, Veronica (Carlos); his surviving sisters in law, Joyce (David-deceased), Pat, Verna (Dads Roy-deceased), Claudine (Moms Roy-deceased); along with a myriad of nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews, cousins, friends, and church family.