wfn.org | Thomas Roughface, head of Oklahoma Indian conference, dies

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

May 9, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-34-71BP{219}

EDITORS: This revision corrects a date in the story. Discard earlier
version.

NOTE: A photograph of the Rev. Thomas Roughface is available with this
report.

By United Methodist News Service

The Rev. Thomas Roughface, superintendent of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary
Conference, died May 9 at Oklahoma University Medical Center following
complications from injuries sustained in an April 28 automobile accident.

Roughface, 66, a member of the Ponca tribe in White Eagle, Okla., worked for
43 years in the ministry of the conference and served five parishes. He was
the moving force in obtaining the missionary conference status in 1972 for
the former Oklahoma Indian Mission. He also was instrumental in getting
voting rights for the conference at the United Methodist Church's highest
legislative assembly, the General Conference.

"Thomas Roughface will be missed," said the Rev. David Wilson, director of
promotion and interpretation for the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.
"He was my friend, pastor and mentor. I appreciated him because he charted a
path for the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference that included helping us
claim our destiny as Native American United Methodists. He challenged and
inspired us to go beyond the expectations we had for ourselves."

Roughface served as a district superintendent four times and held various
other positions. He was appointed conference superintendent in 1990 and
became the first Native American to hold that position.

Active at the denominational level, he worked on several churchwide boards
and agencies and was a seven-time delegate to General and jurisdictional
conferences.

He was one of the first native people to graduate from a course of study
program through Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, and he received a
doctor of divinity degree from Oklahoma City University - one of the
school's highest honors - in 1995.

His wife, Patricia, a Chickasaw, died last Thanksgiving, and Roughface and
his family had just ended the tribal period of mourning. The family marked
the end of the period by sponsoring a feast and give-away in honor of her
life. 

Roughface is survived by six children and a host of grandchildren.

Funeral services, which will be preceded by a noon feast, will be held May
12 in the activities building at White Eagle United Methodist Church. In
lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the
Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, 3020 S. Harvey, Oklahoma City, OK
73109.

# # #

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org