wfn.org | Key supporter of Africa University dies

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 2, 1999  News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71BP{312}

NOTE: A photograph is available with this story.

By United Methodist News Service* 

Richard Reeves, a member of the Africa University Board of Directors from
1988 to 1998, died early on June 2 in a Springfield, Ill., hospital
following heart surgery.

"Dick Reeves was one of the persons who exemplified the spirit of Africa
University," said Roger Ireson, top staff executive of the United Methodist
Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn.

Reeves, of Decatur, Ill., had undergone bypass surgery on May 29 and was
recovering in the hospital. He was 79.

Reeves was chairman of the buildings and ground committee for Africa
University's board of directors, and he worked closely with the architects
and contractors on the construction of the school from an empty field to the
growing campus of 19 buildings it is today.

Africa University, in Old Mutare, Zimbabwe, is the only United
Methodist-related institution of higher learning on the continent. It opened
in 1992 and has 784 students.

Reeves continued as an adviser to the board until his death. He had a
distinguished career in the field of engineering and gave much of his
personal time to establishing wells in Africa. Upon his retirement in 1985
from Burke Pump Inc., his company gave him a well, which he presented to
Africa University. The well is the main source of water for the institution
today.

When he retired, he did volunteer work for the United Methodist Committee on
Relief, traveling to several African countries to work on water and
sanitation problems, said longtime friend Bettie Story, former director of
communications for the Illinois-Great Rivers Conference and former editor of
its newspaper, The Current.

The Reeves Wesley Foundation Fellowship Center, located in the university's
Kwang Lim Chapel, was named in honor of both Dick and Joyce Reeves in
November. The Richard Reeves Memorial Bridge, which leads into the
university, is also named in his honor.

Reeves often said to people in his presentations that "in Africa University,
we United Methodists have the great privilege of a lifetime to be part of
such a significant project, which will shape lives and will long outlive
each of us. How fortunate we are to be able to invest ourselves in such a
great purpose."

"We shall miss the presence of a great spiritual leader who used his
engineering training to change the face of Africa and whose dedication is an
example to us all," Ireson said.

Reeves had returned recently from Africa University where he had attended a
board meeting, Story said. 

"It's an untimely loss for Africa University and for the church," Story
said, citing Reeves' leadership in helping raise funds for the school, and
his work as a consultant and chairman of the board's building and grounds
committee.

Reeves worked full time in support of Africa University during his
retirement, she said. "That ministry has been an inspiration to clergy and
lay people alike in this annual conference." He went to the school four or
five times a year, and made 30 trips there during the past 10 years. 

He paid his own way on all of his trips, Story added. "All of that was
volunteer work on his part."

The conference had just raised $75,000 for the Reeves Wesley Foundation at
the university, she said. The money would provide furnishings for the
foundation and a sustaining fund for upkeep.

As college students, both of the Reeves had been presidents of the Wesley
Foundation at Illinois University, the first such foundation established in
the United States, Story said.

In 1997, Africa University announced that its new Wesley Foundation would be
named for the couple. "Of all the things that could have been done to
recognize my work with Africa University, nothing means more to me than
having the Wesley Foundation named for Joyce and me," Reeves said at the
time.

Reeves was a member of First United Methodist Church in Decatur. He also
served on several General Conference and jurisdictional conference
delegations, and was the chairman of the Illinois-Great Rivers' General
Conference delegation in 1996.

A service of celebration will be held at 7 p.m., June 7, at First Church in
Decatur.
# # # 
*Kathy Gilbert, staff member in the Office of Interpretation for the United
Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, contributed to this
report.

______________
United Methodist News Service
http://www.umc.org/umns/
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(615)742-5472