Ralph Phillip Hughes

Last updated
The Reverend
Ralph Phillip Hughes
Ralph Hughes Jan 49.jpg
Hughes in January 1949
Born
Ralph Phillip Hughes

(1916-09-25)September 25, 1916
Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S.
DiedSeptember 4, 2016(2016-09-04) (aged 99)
Flushing, Michigan, U.S.
Resting placeThetford Township Cementary
OccupationMinister
Spouse
Margaret Covill
​
​
(m. 1936;died 2004)​
Children4
Relatives

Ralph Phillip Hughes (September 25, 1916 - September 4, 2016) was an American minister. He was known for his own prominence in the Assemblies of God as well as that of his family. His ministry received much news coverage beginning in the 1940s.

Contents

Early life and education

Ralph Phillip Hughes was born on September 25, 1916, in Battle Creek, Michigan. He was the youngest of three sons of Ralph Bloomfield Hughes (1882 - 1962), a postman, [1] and Larene ( née  Pike; 1891 - 1983), the daughter of an attorney and was raised in a middle-class family. He graduated from Battle Creek Central High School and received training as an electrician. He was not drafted into the army in World War II, but joined out of patriotism, and served as a military electrician. [2]

Hughes was the eighth-great-grandson of The Reverend John Wing (or Wynge; 1584 - c. 1629), an Oxford-educated Puritan minister from London. [3]

Career

After his military service, he worked as a foreman at a factory, a position of unusual authority given his age. In the early 1940s, he left this lucrative position for the ministry after receiving a calling. Over the next 60 years, he had ministries in Michigan, Washington and Kentucky at various times. He began pastoring churches in Hastings, Bedford and Battle Creek. [4] [5] During the mid-1940s, he received a home missionary assignment to Kentucky. There, he had difficulty preaching due to his stammer and the hostile culture of the locals toward Christianity. During an interview with The Flint Journal, he recalled:

It was Saturday night. Everybody had a gun and was shooting it off. I was supposed to preach to them. When they introduced me, I was in a panic. Then I opened my mouth to preach and the stammering was gone. It never came back.

Following this, he settled in Clio, Michigan, where he pastored the Clio Assembly of God Church for 29 years. Hughes remained in active ministry into his 90s, hosting a bible study from his home. By the end of his career, he was one of Michigan's longest-active clerics, and was recognized within the Assemblies of God. [6]

Hughes visited South Africa in 1968 and preached through an interpreter. He officiated hundreds of funerals and weddings in the Flint area. [7]

In the 1980s, he moved to Blaine, Washington, known as "sin city" because of its lack of churches and high rates of gambling. There he came out of retirement and assisted his son, the Reverend Jonathan P. Hughes, in founding a church which grew to over 150 members

By the 1940 census, he had already acquired his first property. [8] According to his great-grandson, he also became prosperous by flipping houses in Michigan and Washington and rented out houses at various times. [9]

Personal life and family

Hughes married Margaret Lucille Coville (1919 - 2004), the daughter of Percy Adelbert and Ethel ( née  Marks) Covill in LaGrange, Indiana on August 31, 1936. [10] [11] Margaret taught piano and art and painted fine china as a hobby. She and Hughes won several talent shows in Michigan for singing and trick riding. [12]

They had four children:

Hughes died at the age of 99 at his home in Flint, Michigan in 2016 and was buried at Thetford Township Cemetery

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References

  1. ↑ "1940 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  2. ↑ "Ralph Hughes Obituary (2016) - Flushing, MI - Anchorage Daily News". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  3. ↑ "Ralph Phillip Hughes". geni_family_tree. 2020-12-20. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  4. ↑ "Jan 05, 1948, page 13 - Battle Creek Enquirer at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  5. ↑ "Aug 30, 1948, page 8 - Battle Creek Enquirer at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  6. ↑ staff, Flint Journal (2010-10-08). "Pastoring still a passion for 94-year-old Flushing man". mlive. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  7. ↑ "Jun 19, 1975, page 64 - The Flint Journal at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  8. ↑ "1940 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  9. ↑ Louton, Nor (2024). Louton: The Communicator. A biography of Ed and Barbara Louton in South Africa (1951 - 1971).
  10. ↑ "Margaret Hughes Obituary (2004) - Flint, MI - Flint Journal". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  11. ↑ "Sep 06, 1936, page 15 - Battle Creek Enquirer at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  12. ↑ "Apr 09, 1936, page 1 - The Herald-Palladium at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-11-13.

Rev. Ralph P. Hughes at Find a Grave This article is associated with the extended Louton, Hughes, Oster, Rettinger, Ernst and Grams family involved in ministry, business and academia.

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