Dr. Charles Frazier Stanley, the senior pastor at First Baptist Church Atlanta died at the age of 90. He was also the founder of In Touch Ministries. The influential Atlanta faith leader passed away peacefully at his home.

He was married to Anna Stanley. The couple filed for divorce on June 22, 1993. They had 2 children together.

Who was Anna Stanley?

Anna Stanley was born on October 9, 1931, in Smithfield, North Carolina. She went to college at Richmond Professional Institute where she graduated with a degree in art. After graduation, she started working as a Bible teacher at the George Mueller Christian School.

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She got married to Charles in 1955. They shared a son, Andy, who is the pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, and a daughter, Becky Stanley. Despite being happily married for decades, the couple started facing conjugal disputes after moving to Atlanta. Charles became busy with ministry work and began reportedly neglecting his family

After more than 40 years of marriage, Anna filed for divorce on June 22, 1993, despite having strong notions against divorce. By then, the couple were leading separate lives for almost a year. The couple mutually agreed to amend the lawsuit to legal separation instead while seeking reconciliation.

However, Anna again filed for divorce on March 20, 1995. That time she wrote a letter to her estranged husband’s church explaining the reasons for the separation. Divorce papers were filed for the last time on February 16, 2000. A judge granted their divorce decree on May 11, 2000.

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The divorce ended up stirring quite a bit of controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention as Stanley had previously claimed that he would resign as a pastor if he became divorced. Even when the couple separated, he stated that he did not believe that it would result in divorce. When he went against his own claims, the members of his church overwhelmingly voted to keep him on as pastor.

However, according to First Baptist Atlanta’s bylaws, a condition was imposed on Stanley that be allowed to remain as pastor as long as he did not remarry, which he never did.

Anna died on November 10, 2014.