A Saturday Evening Post

If you have asked her how she was, you have heard her say “Super Deluxe!”. In fact, this is exactly what she said when I called the other day. With a cheery disposition, Margaret Hunt had just come home from singing hymns and playing piano for a retirement home. She laughed and quipped light-heartedly,

“I’m probably older than all of them!”

She was born just before Herbert Hoover took office.  At the time, rent in the middle of Manhattan in New York was approximately $15 a week (That’s not where she lived, though). Disney’s Mickey Mouse was still going by Steamboat Willie which was the third ‘moving picture’ of Disney’s revolutionary cartoon. The year was 1928, and what she would remember of a childhood was spent during the great depression which began a year later.

He touched my lips with the burning coal and said, “This has touched your lips, and
now your guilt is gone, and your sins are forgiven.” Then I heard the Lord say, “Whom
shall I send? Who will be our messenger?” I answered, “I will go! – Isaiah 6:7

Margaret Hunt was the wife of one of my Bible College Professors, and to us they were Brother and Sister Hunt’. In 1947, the Midwestern School of Evangelism opened its doors. She was the piano and voice instructor. Sister Hunt came to Ottumwa, Iowa with her father when she was eighteen. She had come to play for a revival meeting while her father spoke. Their current music coordinator wasn’t very accomplished, so they invited her to stay on to coordinate music and attend the Bible college, so she committed for a year.When she was just 15 years old, she often spent time in prayer, and sometimes fasting. Her prayer was often the same; not so much a request as a promise: to go wherever He intended her to be. Now seventy-six years later she still lives in the same town. The School officially closed it’s doors over fifteen years ago, but Sister Hunt plays on.

She says, “Don’t pray that prayer unless you mean it, and if you do mean it, fasten your seat belt, because you will be in for a wild ride!”.  Now, 80 years later, she is still living that commitment daily. At ninety-five, she is still more active in the church than most thirty-year-olds. She still teaches two classes a week and has eleven piano students.

               Fairly recently, there there was a man struggling with alcohol who the church was trying to help him get through his addictions. He was having a particularly hard time of it, so she painted seven of the eight bathrooms with him, just to keep him occupied.

              I can tell you about the many hours, we spent together painting the backstairs at the school, and visiting retirement homes with her and Brother Hunt. One memory I have is of finals week of my senior year at the school (I graduated in 2002) Brother and Sister Hunt lived next door to our dorm and were outside their house doing yard work. I didn’t think such old people should be out there working so hard, so I went to help out, while conveniently avoiding my studies. Afterward they had me over for supper. Today I couldn’t even tell you what final exam I was supposed to be studying for, but I remember having pancakes with them. I wonder which had a greater impact on me; pancakes in the Hunt’s kitchen, or if I had gotten a slightly better grade on that test?

She often spoke very highly of her own parents. She says she never heard a bad sermon growing up. Her father, Archie Word, poured his heart and soul so completely into the ministry, from a very young age, that she felt the burden of the gospel. She began teaching Sunday School class when she was 14 years old.

Her parents made many sacrifices when she was young. They paid 50 cents for piano lessons for her, which, given the difficulty of getting a job, and increased costs, coupled with a large family, was a tremendous investment. Sister Hunt felt the weight of that sacrifice her parents made for her to be able to play. From the moment she first felt those keys she loved every minute of it! God has been glorified through her love for music.

I remember her telling me, she played for various school functions all throughout high school. Their little school in Oregon was so small they didn’t have a piano teacher. So as she improved, she became the unofficial music teacher. She was never in class, because she was constantly being pulled out to play! So that was her education. She jokes that she doesn’t know history or math, but she can play the piano! She still plays for church gatherings, funerals, church services. And she still loves it! She never played to receive the praise of men. But she has a talent, and she isn’t afraid to use it!

Margaret also speaks of her mother’s influence. She was such a perfect companion to her father’s ministry. They were popular because of their sincerity, She says that because of her mother’s example. she knew from an early age that she wanted to marry a preacher, And God answered that prayer from earlier in her life. A part of the first class of the school, she met one of the professors who happened to be single. After living in Ottumwa that first year, she and Brother Hunt were married.

She is not superhuman and talked about the difficulties of discouragement. “The only times that have been discouraging for me were when people were dissatisfied with my husband’s ministry. Personally, I always felt God’s hand on my life.”

We’re all made of the same stuff

“We’re all made of the same stuff. Your level of commitment is your choice.” True, we may not all be able to continue to serve at such an old age, but we all have the ability to live a life of sacrifice for the time that we are given.

What hinders us? The body of Christ needs people to serve; Christ needs hands to paint the bathroom and feet willing to travel to other states and countries for the gospel. The church needs mouths to preach and teach the message to adults and children. The body of Christ needs eyes to notice people struggling with addictions and ears open to listen to those problems. This is the only way the world will hear about the sacrifice Christ made on our behalf.