A dictionary gives the following definition of energy: “Capacity or habit of vigorous activity; also, ability to produce action or effect.” The compiler of words must have known Hugh Thomas Busey. In everyday laymen speak, he has been aptly called “The Energizer Bunny.” At nearly age 99, Hugh Busey keeps on keeping on.
Hugh Busey
He actually retired from the active pastorate at age 59 in 1969 when he left Manassas Baptist Church; but it merely was a shift from a pastorate to another ministry. He went to First Baptist Church, Richmond, as minister of visitation (a second tour of duty with the church) and remained until he reached the mandatory age of retirement of age 65, actually pushing beyond it a year. But again, he shifted to other places for similar service: Grace and Ginter Park churches in Richmond.
As he had been doing throughout his ministry, he was quick-stepping up stairways and down hallways to visit the sick, the dying, the bereaved, the newcomers, the new parents, the prospects.
Even now, in another so-called retirement, he is active at Gayton Baptist Church in the west end of Richmond. It is near his retirement home at Lakewood Manor. Hugh and Margaret Busey recognized when they joined Gayton, that the church was new and struggling. “We had been in big churches so long,” explained Busey, “that we felt that Gayton really needed us.”
Today, the energetic minister finds ways to be useful to others. He recently gave up driving (after wearing out six cars in the ministry) but he can still punch numbers on a telephone. He discovered that visiting and counseling over the phone is almost as beneficial as a face-to-face encounter. He still teaches a Sunday school class; and on one Saturday a month, he goes to Gayton Terrace, a nearby retirement community, to visit the residents and teach the same material which he uses at the church. The retirement community offers an inter-denominational audience. “The people are so appreciative,” says Busey, “and are so receptive.”
Fred Anderson
Born in August of 1908, Hugh Busey continues to find opportunities for practical and needed personal ministries. It is what has helped energize him ever since he entered the gospel ministry 70 years ago. He admits that he struggled with pulpit preparations, pulled constantly by the pressing needs of the pastoral side of ministry. In Altavista and Manassas where he served as pastor, he usually had to prepare his sermons one week at a time. After all, in small-town Altavista and rapidly-expanding Manassas, there always was work to be done.
He remains proud of the music program which was developed in Altavista during his pastorate. He had an efficient and highly capable church secretary and music director in the person of Kathryn Bailey; but Virginia Baptists stole her away to develop their state music program. “Altavista was a wonderful place,” reflects Busey. “They were so gracious and good. I was spoiled in Altavista and Manassas.” It was in the latter place that he had to travel wide distances to visit a flock scattered “from D.C. to Culpeper.” The community quadrupled in population during his pastorate, 1959-69.
He led the Manassas church to purchase a prime tract of land at a steal of a price and erect a magnificent house of worship. In an association characterized by small church buildings, he wanted the new Manassas facility to be sufficient to accommodate large gatherings and thereby serve as a resource for the larger community and association. He inspired the people to build beyond their own needs. He also led them to allow the local association to have offices in the church. He still basks in the memory of the steeple raising. “I had foresight,” the senior minister muses. “I did do at least one thing right!”
Anyone who has ever benefited from the gentle words of encouragement from Hugh Busey might argue that he did more than one thing right in his seven decades of service. He saw each person as an individual with distinct needs and gifts. He remains “a people person” who has the perception to sense an individual's needs even before they can articulate them.
Hugh Busey began his pilgrimage in a different world. He grew up on a small farm in Shelby County, Ky. The fields grew tobacco, corn and wheat. There were cows and pigs. At about age 8, the boy was expected to do his fair share. “Our main recreation was visiting our relatives,” says Busey who enjoyed a passel of cousins. The family attended Buffalo Lick Baptist Church where the pastors were usually Southern Seminary students. Young Hugh became the church pianist, relying mostly upon his ear for music. His mother was “a loving and caring Sunday school teacher” at Buffalo Lick.
His father never got past the sixth or seventh grade; but his parents were determined that he and his sister, Evie, would have opportunities. The son started his educational life in a one-room schoolhouse but in time, transferred to a school which offered an exciting extracurricular activity—basketball. The father sacrificed to put his son through college. After the University of Louisville, the son felt led to enter Southern Seminary with expectations for the ministry.
It was at Ridgecrest that Busey met Margaret Kleiderer, a student at the WMU Training School. Busey admits that he began courting Margaret in the seminary library. They were married in 1938. Margaret shares her husband's capacity for work; and at 93, she is still sewing and making baby quilts and pillows to give away. Until recently, she made her husband's neckties and only quit because the proper materials were no longer available. The couple also had a busy life with four children.
In 1944, while pastor in Madison, W. Va., an unexpected telephone caller invited the young minister to come to Richmond. He was summoned for an interview as associate pastor of the large First Baptist Church and to work closely with the noted pastor, Theodore F. Adams. He later asked a member how the church discovered him in the hills of West Virginia. The reply: “Well, the Lord had your name and your telephone number!” The Lord must have known that a man of uncommon energy was needed.