Roy A. Cheville (October 2, 1897 – April 6, 1986[1]) was a religious leader, theologian and educator in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church), which became Community of Christ in 2001.

[3] Cheville was regarded as an influential professor of Religion at Graceland from 1923 to 1960 and also served as the campus pastor.

[6] Cheville was called to the office of Presiding Patriarch in the RLDS Church in 1958 by W. Wallace Smith and was the first person to serve in that office who was not a direct descendant of Joseph Smith In that role, he presided over the Order of Evangelists, which had 89 members at that time.

[7] He authored more than 345 articles, 20 pamphlets and 25 books on Christian family life, spirituality, church history, theology, scriptures, and other religious topics.

His 1962 text “Did the Light Go Out?”[8] represented a turn away from the traditional RLDS viewpoint regarding the Great Apostasy.