He Died (Un)Expectedly Sunday while Conducting Easter Service

Dr. Erica (Butcher) Geneus’ grandfather Rev. Lewis Butcher’s obituary stated he died  “unexpectedly Sunday, while conducting Easter service” on April 18, 1965 at Haga Mission church in Stewart, OH.  In this special episode, Dr. Geneus and her brother, historian David Butcher, share their conversation with their uncle Rev. John Butcher and stories told by other family members. This testimony will inspire your faith about the ways we can experience and discern the voice of God.

Episode Notes:

Lyrics to the Hymn "Follow Me:" https://spiritualhymns.weebly.com/follow-me.html

Lyrics to the Hymn "Meet Me There:" https://spiritualhymns.weebly.com/meet-me-there.html

Transcript

Dr. Geneus : 0:02

My grandfather, Reverend Louis Butcher, was born in 1904 and died in 1965 at the age of 61. His obituary stated that he died unexpectedly Sunday while conducting Easter service. But there are many things his obituary didn't tell us about the miraculous things that happened before he died and when he died. Thanks for gracing us with your ears today. You're listening to the Faith to Feel podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Januas. God has so much more for us to know, experience, and do if we have the faith to feel. Faith should give us courage to feel, to have difficult conversations about our feelings, and to face challenges we might otherwise avoid. That's what this podcast is all about. When I was growing up, I wanted to hear stories about my grandfather Lewis, who died before I was born. My grandmother Elsie would say she missed him without sharing many details about their lives. She would say, I want to go be with my husband. This was her way of saying she missed him so much that if death would reunite them, she was ready to die. I was always impressed by this pronouncement and thought, one day I want to have a love like that. And this only made me more curious. When I would ask my relatives about him, they seemed reluctant to answer my questions. I could tell it was because they loved and missed him so much that it was hard to talk about him. Seeing how much everybody loved him made me a little sad because I would never have the opportunity to know him as they did. As a teenager, I wrote a fictional story about him, trying to imagine what it would be like to know him, to talk to him and interact with him. I shared this story with my grandmother and a few relatives. Our discussions seemed to finally open the door to learning more about my grandfather. I think it was around this time that I learned more about him and how he died. Hearing that he died preaching on Resurrection Sunday was shocking. Even more shocking was that he knew he was gonna die. He said to my grandmother a few months before he died, You're gonna have to think about what you're gonna do when I'm gone. She said she responded as if you were joking and said something like, Lewis, what are you talking about? You're not going anywhere. Maybe she didn't want to accept that he might die sooner rather than later. My grandfather was under the care of doctors for a heart condition. He'd been told that he should stop preaching because he would get so excited when he preached. But this didn't scare him. He told my grandmother he would rather die in the pulpit preaching than to stop preaching because when he was there in the pulpit preaching, he was closer to God. The day my grandfather died, he was scheduled to preach the sunrise service at a church where he often preached part-time. He told some family members the service was delayed, though he didn't say why. He said that by the time they turned the service over to him to preach his message, the spirit had left him, so he could only give a testimony and couldn't preach. After the service, he went home and then traveled with my grandmother to their church where he would preach his final message. Some family members he greeted at the second service said nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He greeted them as he normally would, and he seemed a good spirit and good health. Recently, my brother and I asked our Uncle John what he remembered about that day. David was also there that day, but he was an infant.

Reverend John Butcher : 4:10

And then, of course, we um we had planned a dinner uh after the service, and of course, once I'd come, you know, expecting that too.

David Butcher : 4:23

I remember grandma telling this story, and one thing that she added I thought was very special is that sometime before service, grandpa walked outside. Do you recall that?

Reverend John Butcher : 4:38

Yes. And uh she was concerned because he had been outside for quite some time, so she went out looking for him, and she said when he came around the corner and faced her, he had such a faraway look that he didn't really say anything to her. Of course, his mind was on heavenly things at this time, and then he went on into church.

David Butcher : 5:06

And as I remember Grandma Elsie telling this, she said it was the first time in her life that she remembered Lewis Butcher walking by her and didn't recognize that she was present. And she knew that something really was different at that time.

Reverend John Butcher : 5:24

Exactly.

Dr. Geneus : 5:26

My grandmother said whenever one of them was in the room and the other one entered, the first thing they would do was look across the room and greet one another with a glance. They had nine children in a very large family, so I can only imagine how crowded rooms must have been sometimes. But the fact that they went to this effort to acknowledge one another first really spoke of their relationship and the sweetness they shared. She told my brother that it really bothered her that my grandfather didn't acknowledge her that day. That was the first time that she could ever remember that he walked past her and didn't even notice that she was there. Her grandfather might have been going in and out of awareness. Perhaps he was trying to capture those last moments of looking at her and maybe comforting her because he knew what was gonna happen next. Before he preached that day, he asked the congregation to sing the hymns, Follow Me and Meet Me There. The hymn Meet Me There includes the lyrics But in heaven, no throb of pain, meet me there, by the river sparkling bright, and the city of delight, where our faith is lost in sight, meet me there, where the songs of angels ring, and the blessed forever sing, and the palace of the king, meet me there, where in the sweetest communion blend, heart with heart and friend with friend, in a world that shall never end, meet me there. Some sixty years later, Mount Lady told me she'd never forget to sing in these songs that day, and sweetly hum the words of these two hymns, Follow me and meet me there. She also said she'd never forget that he looked at her from the pulpit that day and said, Lady honey, he is the King of Kings. We asked Uncle John what his message was about that day.

Reverend John Butcher : 7:48

His message that day was, Do not neglect. I believe it was from the book of Hebrews, How Shall We Escape If We Neglect So Great a Salvation. He emphasized not neglecting, I believe, the church, our duties to our neighbors, our families. There's several ways that we could neglect, and he warned us against that.

David Butcher : 8:14

Now, did you ever remember him saying, because now this might be hearsay that I heard that about living every day is your last because you don't know when God's going to call you home?

Reverend John Butcher : 8:23

That is correct, yes.

David Butcher : 8:25

He said that on that day.

Reverend John Butcher : 8:26

He had made statement as he began the sermon that he only needed 10 minutes. And someone evidently timed it, and it was at 10 minutes. Uh and his last words were, Children, I'm finished, I'm gone. And then just like a feather would float down, he dropped to the floor just like a feather, uh, so softly.

Dr. Geneus : 8:58

Our Uncle Bill, the son-in-law of our grandparents, said he was sitting on the second row on the left-hand side of the church. He said it was like the Lord laid our grandfather down at the altar so gently that it was like he floated down. He said there wasn't a loud noise or any abrupt movement. He said he saw a white cloud floating above our grandfather when he was lying at the altar. He said it vanished soon after. He discerned that this was his spirit leaving his body. He said he'd never seen anything like this before, and he would never forget it. Aunt Leady told me that our Uncle Sam was her husband, was the one who timed his father after he said that he was only gonna preach for ten minutes that morning, and that it was exactly ten minutes. She said that he kneeled down before he laid down in the pulpit and died. And she said his kneeling down didn't signal to them that something was wrong, because he had done this before when he was preaching. And the words that he used, I'm gone now, children, also didn't signal to them that something was wrong, because he often talked this way. He often referred to people as children, and they thought maybe he was just in the mode of preaching that he was saying something or testifying of something, rather than that he was actually dying at that moment. As soon as people realized what was happening, there were gasps in the crowd, and people ran to him and surrounded him. Our brother Larry, who was about five years old at the time, said that you couldn't hardly see him because there were so many people surrounding him, and there were tears, and people praying, and people trying to figure out what was happening. Aunt Leedy and our great uncle Cecil then had to jump in the car and drive to her house to call for an ambulance because there wasn't a phone in the church at the time. Our Uncle John shared with my brother David and I that even though they were all in a state of shock, they were aware that the Spirit of God was present and that whatever was happening must have been as well.

Reverend John Butcher : 11:35

I don't think it sunk in right away. I think it took some time. I think God had put us in a state of shock because we couldn't abore that of our own. But it's like in the grieving process, uh a state of shock was uh so very important to preserve you and give you time to process an event uh so powerful. I'd never seen anyone uh pass away in the pulpit. It was uh something we had never experienced before. And you knew that it was a moment of God. I we had that feeling that uh yeah it was that serious.

Dr. Geneus : 12:25

Yeah.

Reverend John Butcher : 12:27

It was God honoring his ministry. Uh here, someone who felt himself very small, but yet he was the one chosen to be taken out on that uh Resurrection Sunday.

David Butcher : 12:41

I mean It kind of reminds me of when Grandma Elsie was passing and she was in the hospital. I had left before she had passed, but she was having a conversation with God. You remember Uncle John? She was like, she would ask him questions and God would answer. We were all sitting there, she's saying, Why aren't you why aren't you taking me? I'm ready. And uh why are you letting my children see me suffer like this? And I can remember Uncle Sam said the thing that made the most sense to me was that this was not for her. This was for us to see. You know, this was for us to see. And it it is. But I got to experience something similar with grandma. I didn't see her pass, but the feeling. Right.

Reverend John Butcher : 13:29

And her uh some of her last words were lift me up higher. Well, some there thought that uh they she needed a nurse. But no, she was, like you said, she was talking to God. She was she was going up higher, and uh it was just an incredible time. The Lord showed her, it seemed like many times when someone was gonna pass away. And you know, we won't wonder why gifts like that are given. We don't know, but God does.

David Butcher : 14:05

Yeah. I had I had that, and uh it it was a terrible burden for me, and I asked God to take it away, and he did. I I thought to myself, if God, if I can't change it, if I can't help, then you know why why is this burden on me? And uh he's he's taking that burden off of me that I I don't have that. And I because it is. I mean, can you imagine knowing somebody? I mean, I would walk around and touch somebody's hand, and I knew this was not gonna end well. Or I would have a dream that you know that would come true, and I thought, God take this away from me. I don't know how to handle this. Not capable, you know. Wasn't prepared for that. I was just young, you know. So, but grandma, we can't not talk about grandma a little bit. This is the lady who brought Christ into our family, and she was brought to Christ in the family by Hanford Marshall's wife.

Reverend John Butcher : 15:04

Madge Marshall.

David Butcher : 15:06

Madge Marshall. And this is a time when women preachers weren't supposed to preach. Do you remember much about Madge Marshall? I remember Hanford, but I don't remember Madge.

Reverend John Butcher : 15:15

I can't say that I do either. I was pretty young at that point. Although my sister, I feel like she was named after her in her honor.

David Butcher : 15:25

I just never thought about that, but you're probably right.

Dr. Geneus : 15:34

So he's always ready to take advantage of any opportunity to hear stories about our family history, even to hear them again. So when we sat down to talk with Uncle John, he asked him to retell the story of how our grandparents founded the church where our grandfather died.

David Butcher : 15:56

So can you tell us about because I've heard that you know how they started in the log cabin, and then can you go through that process about how they started at the home and finally built the church, etc.

Reverend John Butcher : 16:09

It it was a case of uh what they used to call cottage prayer meetings, and they go to different homes and have the prayer meeting and have a meal, and finally they've seen that they had enough of nucleus to build a church, and God showed uh dad the uh the field where he wanted the church built, and dad said just briars and brush and things like that. And uh Uncle Lias did um donate the land for the church, and of course, maybe even some of the timber also, but he was really instrumental also in the building of the church. Well, of course, you know, we we can't see the future. Uh God seeing the future and what was in store for the people of that community, and uh he gave dad a direct revelation of where he wanted the uh church to be built, and it was a great surprise to my father that God called him to preach with two years education. But he uh was able to speak from uh a very high standard of uh preaching, actually, because his was God given what he got.

David Butcher : 17:39

Many years later, people still talked about your dad and my grandpa, like you know, he was the greatest preacher they've ever heard that he could say, I've heard him say your grandpa could say more in two minutes than most preachers can say in two hours. Is that kind of how you felt growing up that there was something really special about your dad that he was really communicating and he didn't waste people's time and he would uh could I say a short preacher, but it was loaded with information.

Reverend John Butcher : 18:12

And um maybe some of them thought of him as being a ten-minute preacher, which could be, but a lot could be said in ten minutes.

David Butcher : 18:22

Absolutely. My understanding, grandpa never charged for a funeral, grandpa never charged for a wedding. But there are any other services or things that he had done in your life that you find very memorable.

Reverend John Butcher : 18:38

As I said, uh he uh maybe co-pastored might be a better word, Kilvert and Southland at the same time as being a full-time preacher at the Hague mission. So he was busy. Uh he did a lot of home visitations. Uh people called him for prayer. Um he was right about his father's business during that time.

David Butcher : 19:10

Right, and one of the things I remember my dad, who was Robert Butcher, is your oldest brother, um, and maybe I've heard other family members talk about it, that people would come to his church and maybe not feel comfortable about coming in to the church, but the church would raise their windows so they the preaching and singing could be heard. Could you share that with us? Because I wasn't old enough to remember.

Reverend John Butcher : 19:36

Actually, I can think of um two churches that uh I remember it happening. And that is true. Um these young men would come to church and not want to come in, but I still think there was a hunger there. And I especially remember uh Southland Mission They had high wind windows and there were six I think three brothers uh over six six, I believe it was, and they could look right in where other ones, you know, they just had to uh stand back and listen to what was going on. But these were very exciting times.

David Butcher : 20:22

Yes.

Reverend John Butcher : 20:24

Well, Dad was uh he was very emotional. I can almost still see him put his foot up on the altar there by the uh pulpit stand. And he uh he really got into preaching.

David Butcher : 20:41

What was that like for you, knowing that your father has gone down in history as one of the greatest pastors that preachers to ever preach uh in our area, that you're called to step in his shoes. That had to be very tremendous calling.

Reverend John Butcher : 20:55

I was around 21 years old uh when he passed, and I didn't get the call to the ministry uh till several years after that. It really was, and uh as I look back on it, I I count it a great privilege that uh he passed a heritage like that to us, and dad lived a life so close. Uh could I put a little instant?

David Butcher : 21:28

Ah, please do, yes.

Reverend John Butcher : 21:29

Uh down uh at our farm on uh on Bethany Ridge, where we moved there in uh 1946, there was another minister by the name of uh Pearl Radcliffe. They were very close. Well, he had a large family like we did, so the kids we had a great time together. And so, as I recall, one of the first things we would do, of course, summertime, we would go down to the swimming hole, and I can recall seeing uh Reverend Radcliffe and my father going down the valley to a um a rock, and I never found out where that was. I would love to have uh found that. And they would pray about different things, and uh we don't know how long they stayed there, but uh they really put an effort, you know. We talk about sometimes we don't want to get down on our knees. Well, these men had walked uh uh quite a ways, maybe a mile or two, I'm not sure, to go find a place of prayer. And it really reminds me of Jesus, you know. The Bible says that he went out and he spent all night in prayer. And Mark said that uh he was with the wild beast. So um so they were not afraid to go where they could be alone and really pray.

David Butcher : 23:02

And you feel that is something that we are losing? Very much so, yes.

Reverend John Butcher : 23:08

Uh there was times that dad would say, Okay, brother, stay in the Bible. Maybe they would vary a little bit off, and he would uh bring them right back here too.

David Butcher : 23:21

I don't know those preachers today we pay that much attention to yeah, you know, that was his flock, and he was protecting his sheep. And uh why are you why are you talking about that? I think you were you told a story years ago when he took grandma back down to Bayvyville, Kentucky, and he was asked to preach, and you said everybody in the church was carrying guns. You want to share that story?

Reverend John Butcher : 23:44

Well, actually, they seen the guns outside, and uh, of course, mom had never been used to anything like that. Why why bringing uh guns to church? So anyway, they asked dad, they said, uh, what are you gonna preach? He said, I'm gonna preach the love of God. And they said, Well, you better. Now I'm not sure what they meant by that. But uh in the service, mom was so nervous, and she's a Christian, she couldn't even say amen. And here was a two-year-old uh Madge daughter that amen him through the service.

David Butcher : 24:25

That's beautiful. I don't remember hearing that. My mom was born in 38, and I think her and Zelma's the closest age.

Dr. Geneus : 24:32

Okay.

David Butcher : 24:33

So she was young, she she was younger than Zelma, right? Right.

Reverend John Butcher : 24:36

And I might speak about the offering if I could. Please. Okay, they of course uh Baytyville is quite a ways from uh Stewart area, and you'd only have two lane roads, and you know, so it was a long journey down there, and they took up an offering and gave dad the offering, and his I believe it was his nephew, and his name was John, that uh he put the money in the uh pocket and gave the whole whole jacket to John. He said he he had a need, and so he never got anything for that.

David Butcher : 25:16

I mean he he gave his offering that the church took up for him to his nephew, who he felt needed it more. Wow.

Dr. Geneus : 25:26

The family traveled from Ohio to Daytyville, Kentucky, where he was born. My Uncle John said he was unsure why there were men with guns outside of the church the day my grandfather preached. Because they were a black family traveling to rural Kentucky in the early 1940s. We can only assume there were some dangers. Historians estimate that the Great Depression hit black communities ten years before white communities and lasted ten years longer. So we can only imagine the financial struggles my grandparents and his nephew John were experiencing at the time. This is just one of the many examples of my grandfather's generosity. The stories we shared hold a lot of meaning for our family. We pray they have also blessed you in your hearing. When I think about my grandfather and how he died, I'm grateful that God honored him by allowing him to die preaching on a day that we celebrate the love of God. I'm grateful that he knew he was going to die and that he had time to prepare people for his death. He was even able to sing to them and tell them he was going to a place where there would be no throb of pain and the blessed forever sing, and tell them he wanted to meet them there someday. I'm grateful that he died surrounded by so many people who loved him, doing what he loved, and a church that he built with his own two hands. What a miraculous way to die. What a story of faith to tell. I'm grateful for the legacy he left us with. Thank you, Grandpa Lewis and Grandma Elsie, for discerning and listening to the voice of the Lord. And most of all, thank you, Lord, for this testimony of faith. Thanks for listening to the Faith to Feel podcast. Like and follow this podcast so you can hear more insightful conversations like this one. And share this episode with someone who will benefit from hearing it. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5 4. You'll find the Faith to Feel podcast on all of your favorite podcast streaming sites, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.