Homer Blide Hughes

Homer Blide Hughes of Ironton, MO, passed away December 30, 2020, at The Baptist Home at the age of 100 years. He was born January 9, 1920, in Arcadia, MO to James Allen and Edith Mollie (Pannebecker) Hughes.

On July 18, 1942, he was united in marriage to Ernestine Bessie Chasten. They were the parents of four children, all of which survive: Clyde Wayne (Lynn) Hughes of Pilot Knob, MO; Sheila (Harold Thomas) Jones of Yelm, WA; Joseph Hughes of Arcadia, MO; and Pamela (Michael) Gehrs of Ballwin, MO. In addition to his children, he is survived by seven grand-children: Angela (Eric) Wahner, Eric (Rebecca) Jones, Joe (Becky) Hughes, Joshawa Hughes, Chad (Sabrina), Chase Gehrs, and Hunter Gehrs, seventeen great grandchildren, and a host of other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Ernestine, his parents, James Allen and Edith, his sister, Emma Jean Gordon, and daughter-in-law, Ginger Hughes.

Homer served in the US Navy aboard the battleship USS California, the destroyer USS Charles F. Hughes (no relation), and the battleship USS Arizona, before leaving the Navy early in 1941.

He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Ironton. In the 1950s Homer completed seminary training in New Orleans. He pastored a small church south of New Orleans for a time before returning to Missouri. He helped the Fee Fee Baptist Church in St. Louis plant a church in St. Louis. He also served as pastor of the Iron Mountain Baptist Church and the Glover Baptist Church before retiring from the ministry in 1971.

Homer mostly worked as a machinist and carpenter at various locations and was a vocational instructor in Rolla. In his early years he also got his private pilot’s license and loved to fly small planes when he had the chance. When he retired, he became interested in buying and selling antiques. A skill he learned from his father was to carve tiny monkeys from peach seeds at which he was especially skilled. With declining health, he had been a resident of The Baptist Home since October 2005.

Memorials may be made to The Baptist Home, PO Box 87, Ironton, MO.