Austin Warriner, the son of John Henry Warriner and Charlotte Jane (Cloud) Warriner, was born shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day, January 1, 1928. This made him the first baby born in Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington that year. Thanks to a promotion by a local paper, he received several gifts, including a couple of years of piano lessons for being that first baby. (He also got his picture in the local paper for several more years as each new winner was introduced along with the past winners.) He started the lessons at the age of four and showed a real gift for playing the piano. He was also blessed with perfect pitch. This helped him to go up or down the scale when reading sheet music so that he could play a hymn at the right key that would be the most comfortable to sing to.

He graduated from Bellingham High School in 1946. Late that summer while at Camp Nooksack, Washington he was challenged to enter the mission field. And, at the urging of his chemistry teacher, he applied for an all- expense scholarship to Harvard University and was selected as one of only thirty students from around the county to receive it. Majoring in history he graduated Cum Laude in 1950 as a member of the largest graduating class in Harvard history. The summer before his senior year, Austin met Dorothy Gayle Boles at Intervarsity Christian Fellowship camp in Bellingham, Washington. They corresponded by snail mail throughout their senior year as he was in the northeast and she was attending Oregon State University. He asked her to attend his graduation. Her mother, Dora Boles, provided the funds to get her there and they announced their engagement in the spring of 1951 and were married in Eugene, Oregon August 24 of that year.

Austin continued his training at Fuller Theological Seminary and received a Cum Lude in 1953, then a master’s degree in New Testament in 1970. He was ordained to the ministry on May 1, 1953.

During this time, he was Assistant Pastor at the Pasadena, California Advent Christian Church and was a member of the American Advent Mission Board.

Austin and Dorothy made three unsuccessful applications for visas to India for missionary work. So, they volunteered to work in Japan and received their commission to go there on July 19, 1959 at Camp Nooksack, Washington. On August 9, 1959, Austin, Dorothy and their two children, Terri (Warriner) Wong and Beth (Warriner) Danner sailed from Seattle on the Hikawa Maru, a converted WWII Japanese hospital ship. They arrived in Yokohama Bay and began their study of the Japanese language while living in Tokyo for two years.

The family moved to Shukugawa, near Kobe, in 1963 where Austin and Dorothy started a church in their home. Then came the move to Shinobugaoka at the foot of the mountains which separate Osaka from Nara. There Austin became the Principal of the newly founded Japan Bible Institute. A few years later, at the request of Christians living in the neighborhood, he started and became the pastor of the Shinobugaoka Advent Christian Church. Austin also served as the chairman to the Interdenominational Osaka Prayer Fellowship group.

At the very end of their term of service, Austin and Dorothy were asked to go to the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines, where he taught at Oro Bible College in Cagayan de Oro. They were struck by the ongoing cheerfulness and joy of the Christians there despite much poverty.

Upon retirement, Austin and Dorothy moved to Des Moines, Washington and enjoyed being active in the West Valley AC Church. Upon Dorothy’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in 2006, they moved to Advent Christian Village in Dowling Park, Florida. Again, Austin continued to be extremely active, being part of a singing group, playing tennis, swimming, and taking up lapidary and jewelry making. He treasured his time in a prayer group and going to church. He truly loved trying and learning new things.

Dorothy passed away on their 64^th wedding anniversary in 2015. A year later Austin moved to Spokane, Washington to stay with his daughter Beth. Then in 2017 Austin became part of the community at Windriver, an assisted living facility. There he played the piano, near the dining room, several times a day and participated in many group activities. He was well liked and appreciated by the staff.

On Thanksgiving Day 2020, he fell and broke his left arm and hip. He was on pain medication and resting daily on a recliner in the TV room and was visited often by many wonderful staff members. On December 1st, one month shy of his 93^rd birthday, he died at 3:25 PM, PST.

He was a wonderful man who loved God with all his heart, soul and mind and strived to walk with Jesus every minute of the day. He touched so many people in his life and God was able to minister to many through him. He loved his wife and family and took much joy in his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was quite competitive and somehow always seem to manage to win at the game of Monopoly. He loved flowers and grew hydrangea, roses, cosmos, hollyhocks, chrysanthemums, azaleas, sweet peas, among others. He loved to swim, sail, play games, be with family and share meals with loved ones. And dessert always had to be accompanied by tea or coffee.

Austin Riley Warriner is survived by his sister Rhoda (Warriner) Peel (95), (sister Luella Johnson died at age 92 on April 11, 2015), oldest daughter Terri and husband Joe Wong; younger daughter Beth, her husband Tom Danner; their son Jason and Erin Danner and their two sons and daughter; their daughter Rachel and Andy Hammerbeck and son; and daughter Sara and Matthew Martinusen and their three daughters.