By Rev. Dr. Greta Fowler, 6th Episcopal District
Courageous. Innovator. Trailblazer. First of many. The latter are just a few of the ways people describe Bishop Carolyn Tyler Guidry. But if you knew her and were loved by her, she was “Mother Bishop.”
Upon her retirement from the episcopacy, Bishop Tyler Guidry relocated to Fairburn, Georgia, and became a long-serving and active member of St. John AME Church. Mother Bishop warmly loved on her St. John family and greeted them weekly with that wide, beautiful smile of hers, while also keeping it real and brutally honest when needed.
On Sunday, August 23, 2026, St. John AME Church in Fairburn, Georgia, under Pastor Greta Fowler, renamed its fellowship hall in honor of Mother Bishop Carolyn Tyler Guidry. Surrounded by Bishop Tyler Guidry’s family, Pastor Fowler and Bishop Tyler Guidry’s son, the Reverend Dr. Timothy Tyler, cut the ribbon in rededication of the fellowship hall.
Although Bishop Tyler Guidry is no longer with us, her impact remains and continues. As our Mother Bishop, she mentored countless women across the connection, including myself. Her legacy continues to hold the door open for the women coming behind her. Fairburn, Georgia, now holds a piece of that history in a fellowship hall that bears her name. Hers is a legacy worth remembering and serves as a reminder to the women across the connection who are still walking through doors she helped open as courageous innovators, trailblazers, and the firsts of many.
Reverend Dr. Greta Fowler is the pastor of St. John AME Church in Fairburn, Georgia.
Pictured from left to right: Dr. Makungu Akinyela (son); Chinganji Akinyela (daughter-in-love); Alpha Tyler (daughter); the Reverend Dr. Timothy Tyler (son); Dr. Dwinita Mosby Tyler (daughter-in-love); the Reverend Dr. Greta Fowler (Bishop Tyler Guidry’s Pastor)
