Tribute

Gary Wayne McCoy was born June 27, 1948, to Melvin & Joyce McCoy in St. Charles, Missouri. He graduated from St. Charles High School in 1966 and attended Central Missouri State College in Warrensburg, Missouri where he graduated with a Bachelor of Music Education degree with a major in voice in 1970. After graduation, he earned a Master of Church Music degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas in 1972. That same year he was ordained to the Gospel Ministry by Bellefontaine Neighbors Baptist Church in St. Louis, Missouri where he first served as Minister of Music, Education and Youth. In 1974 he and Mary Nell were commissioned by the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention as Music Missionaries to South Korea where they served until 1991. In 1987, Gary earned a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and was a professor at the Korean Baptist Theological Seminary in Taejon, Korea. In 1991 he moved to Mill Valley, California where he served as Professor of Worship & Music at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (now Gateway Seminary) until his retirement in 2016. During this time, he also served as Minister of Music at Concord Korean Baptist Church for 12 years and earned the Doctor of Worship Studies in 2006 from the Institute of Worship Studies in Orange Park, Florida (now meeting at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church.) Gary passed away May 9, 2024, peacefully at home after battling brain cancer for over 2 ½ years.

Friends & Family

He is survived by his wife, Mary Nell, whom he married in 1968, and three children—Amy, Jason & Joyce, as well as 8 grandchildren—Noah, Toby, Graydon, Elliot, Mary, James, Edward, and Philip. He has 8 surviving siblings—Tim, Terry, Cheri, Connie, Ricky, Cindy, Scott, and Vicky.