James Benjamin Ansley was born August 8, 1912, in Optimo, Oklahoma, one of seven children born to J. M. and Sally Lou Ansley. After graduating from Optimo High School, he received his undergraduate degree from Friends University (Wichita, Kansas) in 1937. He went on to receive his master’s degree from the Perkins School of Theology at SMU. Texas Wesleyan College awarded Rev. Ansley an honorary doctorate in 1967. He was a deacon in the Central Kansas conference., having been admitted to full membership on October 13, 1940. His Kansas appointments included the Pierceville Circuit (for one year) and Greenwich Station (three years). Rev. Ansley transferred to the Central Texas conference on October 6, 1941. He married Lorraine Massey at the First Methodist Church, Kerens, Texas, in August 1942. At the time, he had been serving as pastor of the Bazette (Texas) Methodist Church (Corsicana district) for a year or two, but he had received a commission as army chaplain and was expecting to report for duty in Massachusetts later that same month. After serving in this capacity in the European and North Africa theaters of war, he returned home to Texas and became minister at First United Methodist Church (Fort Worth) before beginning a long career at Harris Hospital, where he was head chaplain for 25 years. In 1974 he was named a National Chaplain of the Year. Rev. Ansley retired in 1982 and moved with his wife Lorraine to Cedar Creek, Texas. He died at the age of 94 on May 27, 2007, and was laid to rest at Prairie Point Cemetery in Navarro County, Texas. He was survived by his wife of 64 years (who later passed away (in 2014) at the age of 96 and is also buried at Prairie Point), daughter Camille Ansley Thomason and her husband John, and son Frank Ansley and his wife Suzanne. Rev. Ansley's memoir appears in the Central Texas Conference Journal for 2007, page: 290.

Note written by Sarah St. John