Gregory Allen Garman, 64, of Valencia, California, passed away on 25 July 2025, after a battle with Frontotemporal Dementia. He was a retired district superintendent who led the Los Angeles District from 2015 to 2023 and ministered in California.
Greg was born in Pasadena, California, on 18 September 1960. He was delivered on the kitchen table, which could explain his insatiable appetite for life. At the age of 3, he moved to Mexico City with his parents, Larry and Addie Garman. Joining him were his older brother, Rusty, and his younger sister, Candy.
After one year of immersive language training, the Garmans were called to move as missionaries in the Church of the Nazarene to the Amazon jungles of Peru. There, they spent the next 45 years in the most remote assignment in the denomination, working among the indigenous Aguaruna tribe.
Accessible only by boat or pontoon airplane, Greg grew up in the most beautiful and wondrous wonderland a young boy could hope for. While his father worked as a doctor specializing in jungle medicine and his mother as a medical assistant, they poured their passion into starting a Bible school deep in the remote jungle.
All the while, Greg hunted for alligators, swam in rivers, fished for piranhas, stalked monkeys, capybaras, jaguars, and anything that crawled, swam, or ran with blowguns to supply the family and village with food. The necklace Greg always wore—the tooth of a jaguar he hunted—was a testament to his upbringing. His daughter, Spencer, has been the owner of that tooth since 25 July 2025.
Greg attended boarding schools in both Pucallpa, Peru, and Quito, Ecuador. While in Pucallpa, his younger brother, Tim, was introduced to the world. Greg's boarding school brothers and sisters remain among his closest friends. Many of them gathered to celebrate a Pucallpa reunion just last year.
In 1979, Greg moved to San Diego, California, to attend Point Loma Nazarene University on a soccer scholarship. Not being very successful at the sport, mainly due to severe culture shock, he purchased a one-way ticket back to the jungle, intending never return to the United States. The following two years back in Peru were pivotal—Greg worked with his parents at the Nueva Horizonte Mission Station and was being called to ministry. In 1982, he returned to San Diego and PLNU.
During his years at Point Loma, he was known as "the guy from the Amazon." He reveled in soccer, became enthusiastic at outdoor activities, attended chapel, and studied seriously. There, he made many lifelong friends who stayed connected with him.
While at Point Loma, he met his future wife, Leslie, at a church service and asked her out to a dollar-a-slice pizza dinner in Ocean Beach. The rest, as they say, is history.
Greg and Leslie were an amazing team in ministry. They youth-pastored in Los Osos, California, at El Morro Church of the Nazarene (1985-1989) to a large group of kids who they still consider "family." While serving in Los Osos, they led groups down to the Amazon, where lives were transformed. Some of those "kids" continued going to the jungle with Greg for years to come!
Greg's family was his greatest joy. After four years in Los Osos, along with their daughter, Aubree, they moved to Carpinteria, California. Greg pastored Carpinteria Church of the Nazarene (1989-1993). Together, Greg and Leslie served with their indoor and outdoor versatile skills, in addition to Leslie entertaining church visitors with vibrant cooking.
On a Sunday morning, Leslie went into labor while playing the piano. That night, their second daughter, Spencer, was born. Both kids followed their parents everywhere, even the Peruvian jungles.
After four years in Carpinteria, the family moved to Santa Clarita, where Greg pastored the Newhall Church of the Nazarene for 22 years. He enjoyed preaching and leading in-depth sermon series, greeting every person in the church on Sunday mornings, and taking teams to his homeland, Peru.
After his impactful tenure at the Newhall Church of the Nazarene, Greg was elected as district superintendent of the Los Angeles District of the Church of the Nazarene in 2015. He oversaw the spiritual and administrative aspects of numerous churches, providing guidance and support to pastors and congregations. He served in that position for seven years, until his health forced him to retire.
Greg was a peacemaker, a jokester, a preacher, a jungle-boy, and an athlete. But his joy was being a son, a brother, a husband, a father, and an abuelo. He dearly loved his family from both sides—wife, children and grandchildren, parents and siblings, and his extended family.
Greg is survived by his wife, Leslie, his daughters, Aubree and Spencer; "son-in-love" Logan; granddaughters Aura and Theia; his father, Larry; sister, Candy; brother, Tim; and many nieces and nephews. He is also survived by Leslie's family, who considered him "brother."
He is pre-deceased by his mother, Addie; Leslie's folks, Dearl and Bobbie; his brother, Rusty; his sister-in-law, Dana; and his nephew, Grant, and niece, Camila.
A Memorial service will be held on 9 August 2025, at the Newhall Church of the Nazarene, and will be live-streamed on their YouTube page.