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The Rev. James "Jim" H. Pyke, 94, an Elder who retired in 1983 from his professorship at Wesley Theological Seminary, died in his sleep Jan. 18 at Asbury Village. A private funeral was held.

He was the third generation born to missionaries in Changli, China, He served as a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries from 1941 to 1956.

China in the first half of the 20^th century, when Pyke was growing up, was a turbulent place. As a nine-year-old, he had to hold a basin of water for his mother as she washed and bandaged wounded citizens caught in one of the many battles between warlords. He remembered severed heads in cages hanging up over the city gates, while columns of bearded white Russian mercenaries marched past the missionary compound gate.

After high school in Beijing, Pyke returned to the U.S. where he earned an A.B. at Willamette University, an M.A. from Boston University, and an S.T.B. from Harvard Divinity School. In 1940 he returned to China as a missionary with the Methodist Board of Missions and was assigned to teach at the mission-sponsored Yenching University in Beijing.

During World War II, he and his parents were interned by the Japanese in a concentration camp for two-and-a-half years, where he was one of the cooks for the camp of several thousand foreigners. After release, he returned to teach at Yenching University.

In 1949 during a furlough, he met Margaret Gene Felton and carried on a long-distance relationship until she joined him in Beijing late in the year and they married amidst the chaos of the Communist revolution.

For two years they served in Indonesia, he as a principal of a Methodist high school. They returned to the U.S., where he earned a Ph.D. from Drew University and in 1956, he joined the faculty at Wesley Seminary as professor of Missions and World Religions. He remained there until his retirement in 1983.

Throughout his life he maintained his commitment to China and mission work among the Chinese. He remained fluent in his Mandarin language ability. In 1959, he helped start the China Outreach Ministries, then called the Chinese Overseas Christian Mission. Once the country reopened in the late 1970s, he and his wife traveled back to China many times.

Margaret Pyke died in 1998.

Survivors include his children: Mary Louise Connor of Atlanta, Robert "Bob" Pyke of Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., David Pyke of Del Mar, Calif., and Elizabeth Pyke of Bethesda, and 11 grandchildren.

Condolences may be sent to his daughter, Mary Louise Connor, 7620 Brigham Drive, Atlanta, GA 30350.

Memorial gifts may be made to China Outreach Ministries, 555 Gettysburg Pike, Suite A-200, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055.