Eugene Souder: A Tribute I Need to Pay

Another Way for week of September 22, 2023

Eugene Souder: A Tribute I Need to Pay

Today I want to pay tribute to a man who enabled me to do something I dreamed of doing/being. Besides my 43 years working for a church media organization (sometimes just half time or ¾ time when our children were young), a creative entrepreneur named Eugene Souder asked me to be editor of two magazines he started. We had three small children at the time and I loved being able to also work from home that way for a number of years.

Eugene died June 3 of this year. A memorial service was held July 29 near Broadway, Va.–the delay due to far flung family members all wanting to be there (one living in Netherlands) and as I mention below, wonderful musicians, like Eugene.

In 1990, Eugene started a local paper he called Living for the Whole Family, to give parents and families good healthy information and encouragement. Rather than being negative and discouraged, he wanted to “light some candles rather than curse the darkness.” He felt that families were not getting much support: raising children can be very taxing and difficult. He organized a board to help with this media effort.

About two years after Eugene launched the family paper with an editor in Kentucky, he asked me if I would take over as editor. I pretty much jumped at the chance. It was something I could do at home, after the children were in bed or at school.

Eugene was an idea man and also loved singing, drawing and design. One church leader I knew used the word “gadfly” to describe him, because he was always coming up with new ideas and projects. Sometimes people with innovative ideas get put down for creativity. At one point he was a part time pastor and also a home builder who spearheaded building a whole section of smaller affordable houses for families in a local town. He sang in a men’s quartet for many years and traveled with evangelist B. Charles Hostetter sharing uplifting Christian music. He was also instrumental in starting a radio program of mostly music on a local station.

I loved that right out of high school at the close of World War 2, he accompanied cattle on three different trips via cattle ships to Poland, Greece and China. Eugene and the other volunteers hoped to ease hunger and help farmers raise their own cattle through a United Nations relief program.

He and his wife Alice enjoyed 70 years of married life raising four children. He grew up in a family of five sisters and four brothers (all now deceased). He diligently planned and outlined the whole memorial service long before he passed, and fervently asked that the memorial should not just be about him. He did give “license” to the family to add what they wanted, but overall kept it a service of worship and praise to the God he served and loved with all his heart.

A talented seven-member “family choir” plus a pianist, four violinists, a flutist and guitar player made beautiful music at the memorial service. The music helped all of us enter into a true spirit of worship and joy while also wiping a few tears.

I was happy for the side income to my 30-hour-a-week job some of those years, but what made me truly happy was the opportunity to be a real editor of a real paper that was distributed—free of charge to hundreds of thousands of homes in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. I loved corresponding with writers who also were delighted to get $30 to $50 checks for their articles, and to be published in a truly uplifting magazine. Our own children even created “word searches” for it when they were old enough, and earned some money. For the record, Eugene had the imagination and wherewithal to launch two other periodicals: Together, and Our Faith Digest. Together was distributed (without charge) to an estimated 250,000 homes.

It wouldn’t have happened without Eugene’s foresight and energy and abilities! A gadfly? No. Today I would say he is “flying glad” in the realms beyond. The message he shared on the cover of the memorial bulletin he designed was: “Meet me there!”

Blessings to Gene’s wife and family as they remember his spirit and get-up-and-go.

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Comments? Your own tributes to dedicated and creative persons you’ve known?

Comment here or send to me at Another Way, P.O. Box 363, Singers Glen, VA 22834, or email anotherwaymedia@yahoo.com.

Another Way is a column by Melodie Davis, in syndication since 1987. She is the author of ten books, most recently Memoir of an Unimagined Career. Another Way columns are posted at FindingHarmonyBlog.com a week after newspaper publication.