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A Fragrant Memory

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 8, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 32.

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A Fragrant Memory

By George I. Butler

IN THE REVIEW of July 11, is an announcement of the death of Elder R. M. Kilgore. As we both entered the public work of this denomination at the same time, at a very early period in the history of the Iowa Conference, in the day of "small things" so far as the cause there was concerned, it seemed to the writer that a few words of reminiscence concerning our brother's labors in this cause might be worthy of publication.Robert, as he was familiarly called, was just out of the army at the close of the war. My first recollections of him are at the camp-meeting at Pilot Grove, when Elder and Mrs. James White and Elder J. N. Loughborough were present. He was then a young man, clothed with his captain's uniform, with the well-earned reputation of a gallant soldier. He had very recently embraced this message, although his father's family had become believers years before. The conference elected new officers, and, much to my surprise and I may say regret, I was called to the presidency of the conference, Elders James White, J. N. Loughborough, and Henry Nicola being the nominating committee. It looked like folly to me. It was two years before I was called to public labor. Ministers from abroad came to labor in this field. Elder Loughborough, with his large experience, visited the churches. Elders A. C. and D. T. Bourdeau, from Vermont, were sent to labor with us. The former did not remain long, but the latter remained for several years. Two years later I was licensed by the conference, and commenced public labor with Elder D. T. Bourdeau, Brother Kilgore being our tent master. During four tent seasons we were thus associated, and it was here that our intimate acquaintance began. The following season
Elder M. E. Cornell took the place of Elder Bourdeau, serving for one year. Brother Kilgore made an ideal tent master. In these courses of lectures we had excellent success, and rarely failed to leave a church at the close of our lecture course.
The writer will never forget the time when Brother Kilgore wished to lay his desires before us for counsel and advice. In his great love for the cause he wished to become a partner in its ministry, and very modestly presented his desires and feelings, asking my advice. I advised him to take his Bible, find some favorable opportunity, and, like one desiring to learn to swim, enter the waters, and give the Lord an opportunity to work for him. He soon did this, with the result that a few persons accepted the message.
His full entrance into the ministry was rapid. He was a dear brother, generous, noble-hearted, and loved by all his acquaintances. He soon became prominent in the conference, and had excellent success. He manifested a willingness to sacrifice for the cause. In my early labors, when the railroads were few in the State, I found it difficult to go from one appointment to another. Brother Kilgore, on his little farm, had a lively pair of mules, and in answer to my call, was only too ready to make a round trip of one hundred fifty miles. He was unwilling to take any remuneration for such trips, although they interfered with his work; for with him the cause stood first of all, and I have every reason to believe it continued so till the day his life closed.
His work in the Iowa Conference was always highly prized. His name stood on the conference committee for many years. After I was called, very unwillingly on my part, into the General Conference work as president, and had general supervision of the great field, there came a time when a few believers were found in Texas. That great State had as yet hardly been entered. The few believers made a strong plea to the General Conference for help. In looking over the field carefully for a good man to send, Elder R. M. Kilgore was selected. He moved his family there, and with his accustomed energy, went to work with all his heart. Correspondence continually passed between us. God greatly blessed his labors there, and church after church was raised up, the work growing very rapidly.
His going to Texas and the success he had there gave forcible evidence that he could be especially useful in establishing the work on a firmer foundation, in the whole Southern field. His arduous labors were esteemed valuable, and he held important positions in various fields in the General Conference. He was, in short, a General Conference man when he was entrusted with special responsibilities in the Southern Union Conference. He located in Graysville, Tenn., a small village some twenty or thirty miles north of Chattanooga. The locality is healthful and pleasant, so he settled there, and his last home was in that place.
Seeing the need of a general school for the Southern field, he worked earnestly for it; and after various changes, much to his joy, it was permanently located in Graysville. In its early days he was truly a father to that school. Every effort in his power was put forth to the best of his judgment to make it a success. It has been and still continues to be a success. Many hundreds have received its benefits. Through its establishment many families of Sabbath-keepers were drawn thither, until a large church exists there. These facts had much to do with the establishment of a prominent sanitarium there, the oldest one in the Southern field. So this little village has become a leading center of the work in the old conference of nine Southern States. But that conference is now divided into two union conferences, the Southeastern and Southern. However, the one leading school, at Graysville, still accommodates both. The settlement of Elder Kilgore there, with his intense interest in the work, was one leading factor in the establishment of that small village as our important center in the Southern cause.
The last five years of his personal labors were spent in the Southern Union Conference, though his home was still in Graysville. The cause of his death, according to our able physician, was paralysis of the brain. His son Charles took him to his own home in South Lancaster. The weary brain is now at rest.
"He sleeps in Jesus, blessed sleep, From which none ever wake to weep."
Perhaps no person outside of his own family circle knew him better than the writer. There has been between us a very close intimacy through all these forty years, or ever since the beginning of the four tent seasons when we slept together in the preaching tent. Not one single break or alienation can the writer recall in all those forty years of constant acquaintance. Not one single doubt have I ever heard him express in all that time of the truthfulness of, or his full faith in, this message or its final triumph. Not one unworthy blight have I ever known upon his moral character. The tears flow as I pen these words of witness of our love and affection, but they do not arise from the slightest doubt concerning his acceptance with God. They flow from love, and highest respect for his integrity and faithfulness to God and the right, and in deepest sympathy for those who are called to mourn.
GEORGE I. BUTLER.