Alan Jay Droke

It is our privilege to share with you just a small portion of Alan’s life and convictions.  Fortunately, we have had many opportunities to know Alan and Donna very well.  As their church, we have been with them in countless church settings, in their home and other occasions.  Alan was the genuine article.  His kindness and gracious disposition were manifested to all who knew him.  To Alan, everyone was his friend, and his attention was always on how he might help you or care for you.

Alan had two great loves which overshadowed everything he was or did.  He loved the Lord Jesus with all his heart and was a devoted follower.  To know Alan was to know Jesus. He would speak about his Lord in every situation and his daily life exhibited the qualities of Jesus. It was said of Barnabus, one of the early church missionaries, that he was a good man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.  The name Barnabus means “encouragement”.  All who knew Alan would say he was a their “Barnabus”, a good man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. 

It is said that what a man does in secret or without noticing, is who he really is.  Alan loved serving his Lord’s church.  His long career as a maintenance man for the Doctors Park building in Little Rock, instilled a work ethic that didn’t stop at retirement.  Without asking Alan took on the task of helping clean his church.  Every week, sometimes twice, he would empty trash, vacuum, mop floors, clean restrooms and did so whether he felt good or not. This was his ministry, and he couldn’t be persuaded to let others do it.  We often told him he didn’t need to do what he did, but he wanted his beloved brothers and sisters to worship in a clean building.

He and Donna were leaders in our prayer ministry.  Others have joined them, and prayers are enveloping our church, our city, and the world.  The needs of many have been answered through this prayer effort and the Hillcrest Community Church has grown and is ministering to people from all over the world.

Alan believed and longed for the return of his Lord to this earth.  He would often excitedly tell us of a TV program, book or recording he had found on this subject.  The Lord’s return is always imminent, and he was ready for that moment.  Instead, Alan was taken to heaven and into the Lord’s presence on December 1.  “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.”  His great longing to be with his Savior was realized and now heaven is his home.

Alan’s other great love was his wife, Donna.  There was no Alan or Donna, but Alan and Donna.  They were inseparable. Even their voice mail had Donna answering the call, and then Alan thanked you for calling and they would call you back.  The Bible says of marriage that a man shall leave his early home and join himself to his wife and they shall become one.  They were truly one.  Alan treated Donna like a princess, his princess.  While visiting their home the conversation would have Alan say something and Donna would add to it, or Donna would tell a story and Alan would join in.  They were literally one.  When they met 38 years ago, Alan was a bachelor taking care of his mother.  Donna was praying for a godly husband.  While working in the same Doctors Park building, they found each other.  What a great love story!

Obituaries can never really flesh out the totality of a person and their life.  As someone said once, “there is a whole lot of living in the dash between your birth date and death date.”  All who knew Alan were the richer for it and we would do well to emulate his two great loves.  Alan is irreplaceable and will be sorely missed.  We rejoice though because he has moved on to the “land that is fairer than day”.  The Bible declares, “eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him.”  As fellow Christians when we say goodbye, we really mean, see you later.  God bless the memory of Alan Droke.

                                Hillcrest Community Church, Little Rock, Arkansas