Family and friends remember life, legacy of Thynoise Hines

May 13—For those who knew and loved Bishop Thynoise Hines, the late former pastor of City of Refuge Mission Family Worship Center, he is the reason many of them have a true relationship with God.

Hines had a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Navy. He was from Mississippi and moved around quite a lot. Some of his kids even categorize themselves by where their parents were stationed when they were born. Cheryl Johnson, his daughter, was born while he was stationed in Jacksonville, but Nelson Hines was born in Norfolk, Virginia.

Nelson said his father served for a time on the West Coast before moving to Jacksonville, then to Norfolk, Maryland and Corpus Christi, Texas. He finally transferred to Brunswick.

Nelson said his dad would often be out of the country for six months at a time serving on ships during his military career in the U.S. Navy.

One of Nelson's most vivid memories of his dad is when he brought him home a Robby the Robot toy. It would wind up and walk around.

"He brought it home, fired it up and I proceeded to yell go hide, because I love it, but I was scared of it," Nelson laughed.

Thynoise landed in Brunswick after being stationed at Naval Air Station Glynco, a former installation that primarily serviced blimps in northern Glynn County, where the Brunswick Golden Isles Airport now stands. He was on the decommissioning team of Glynco, and his family was the last to vacate the on-base townhomes.

He worked a few jobs in Brunswick after leaving the military, retiring as a master chief petty officer, including as a salesman at Sears. Later in life, he founded City of Refuge Mission Family Worship Center at the corner of Albemarle and Carpenter streets.

The family never took big vacations, but they're extremely close perhaps because of that. Every time they moved, Thynoise would take them on a slow drive around town, just looking around and figuring out the lay of the land. All that time spent in the car helped them as kids learn how to enjoy each other's company.

"I remember all the time he spent with us when got home, after he was finished cutting up our tails for what we did while he was away," Nelson said.

His dad would take him fishing and crabbing a lot on the Patuxent River, where the family was stationed in Kentucky. No matter how good the fish were biting on his line, Nelson said Thynoise would always take the time to teach him how to fish right or untangle his line or tie a hook.

"I never understood why he spend so much time helping me when he could have been enjoying himself. Sometimes he'd let a fish get away while he was working on my line," Nelson said. "I didn't understand until I had my own son. Those are the kind of things I remember."

Cheryl Johnson, one of Thynoise's daughters, was fascinated by the world her father grew up in. It wasn't a friendly one to African Americans. As a teen, he witnessed a lynching in Tupelo, Mississippi, but that didn't stop him from loving everyone, as the Bible calls Christians to do.

It was when the family was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, that Thynoise gave his life to Christ. He became a deacon at the church and got involved in the finances. When he left the Navy, the family was attending a now-disbanded Black church called St. Andrew's Church on St. Simons Island.

Later, they moved to Hall Temple on Gordon Street in Brunswick. Thynoise continued serving as a deacon but started his elder studies.

In 1983, Johnson said the Lord prompted him to launch his own ministry.

"It started as a Bible study in the house, then it grew until they needed a facility," she explained.

The family raised money any way they could — selling chicken dinners, dolls in sand pails called "beach bucket babies," and working side jobs.

Johnson said her parents spread the word of God, she said, but they also did community service, helped teach people life skills, counseled married couples, even just how to separate the whites from the darks when doing laundry. Thynoise was a nurturer, she continued. He'd slip out of church to pray over somebody's new car because he was worried about their safety.

Her parents taught by example, Johnson said. Several members of the family are ministers today, including Nelson Hines, who is the executive pastor at City of Refuge, and Nelson's son Daniel Hines, is also a pastor at the church.

"Our family is blessed to have a legacy of servant ministry," she said. "That's what we know. That's who we are."

Thynoise legacy as a husband, father and minister is the greatest Angel Hines, one of his granddaughters, knows.

"He doted on grandma, he showered her with gifts. He planted a rose garden for her," she said.

He was quiet, and didn't say a lot, but his feelings weren't a mystery.

He loved and was proud of his family.

She recalled a phenomenon called "the whammy."

"You go to grandma and grandpa's house and you leave full, with a bunch of stuff and three hours later than you planned," she laughed.

Judy Thomas met Thynoise in 1967 in Kentucky. She was 22 and they attended the Assembly of God Church there, the Hines being the only Black family in the congregation.

The matriarch of the Hines household, who she affectionately called Mother Hines, was the first person to greet her when they started attending. Despite tensions between White and Black communities at the time, Thomas said she was treated just like a member of the family from then on.

"God forged a bond between the Hines family and me that's lasted all these years," Thomas said.

She fondly recalled driving onto the military base to visit the family and leave them gifts. She'd be interrogated about how she got into the base, but Thomas said she just drove.

"She had an uncanny ability to influence armed military personnel and guards," Nelson laughed.

The Hines' were indispensable to her, she said. A testament to Thynoise's own marriage is that he and his wife taught Thomas — who married young to a man she'd known for three months — how to maintain a good marriage and how to be a good wife.

"The marriage wouldn't have lasted for six months," Thomas said. "He died in 2016. We were married for 50 years.

"I was a problem child. I kept them on their knees praying for me."

Soon to be 78, Thomas said her life is in many respects a testament to the ministry of Thynoise Hines, not just her marriage. She moved to Brunswick in 2018, but he and his family were extremely influential on Thomas's children all through their lives.

She referenced the Book of Romans in the Bible, specifically verses about Gentiles being welcomed into the Christian faith like a wild olive branch grafted into another tree. Despite not belonging to the original tree, all branches are nourished by the same root, the passage states.

"I was the wild branch engrafted into the Hines family," Thomas said, beginning to cry. "In the process of grafting, both had to be cut deeply and it takes a long time to heal. But when it's done, you can't differentiate between the two. God did that, no one could have made it up.

"I'm so indebted to them, but I can hear him (Thynoise) say if you ever talk about us, give God the glory because we are only vessels."