Housman, J. Harold (1928-2009)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2009 Jun 22 p. 16

Birth date: 1928

text of obituary:

Final flight for a 'flying doctor'

Housman longtime medical missionary in Africa, dies at 81

By Jewel Showalter

Eastern Mennonite Missions

EAST PETERSBURG, Pa. — J. Harold Housman, a medical doctor, ophthalmologist and pilot who served for 19 years with Eastern Mennonite Missions in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia and Nigeria, died April 25. He was 81.

At the memorial service April 29 at East Petersburg Mennonite Church, Don Jacobs, a missionary colleague, said that Housman — who had always loved to fly and had earned his "wings" at age 16 — had answered God's call to "move up higher" after a 14-year struggle with Parkinson Disease.

"I always wondered why Harold loved to fly," Jacobs said. "I think flying was Harold's way of handling life 'down below' where feet need washing. . . . It gave him perspective."

"He always seemed to be looking at the sky. At first I thought this was because he was a pilot. But it went deeper than that. He was always trying to make some sort of connection between Earth and heaven. . . between physical sight and spiritual sight."

Housman and his wife, Miriam first went to Tanzania in 1957. They served at the Shirati Hospital, where Housman practiced medicine and taught in the growing nursing school. He also found time to develop an airstrip as a link to the wider world.

During this time Housman also flew to Somalia, where he taught and practiced eye surgery. Later the Housmans served at Dedar Hospital in Ethiopia and at the Kano Eye Hospital in Nigeria.

For part of his time in Tanzania, Housman served 19 clinics in the region of Mount Kilimanjaro, a job that combined his love of both medicine and flying and earned him the nickname "Flying Doctor." He was also instrumental in developing landing strips to serve many of the remote clinics.

Returning from his initial service in Africa, Housman completed a three-year residency in ophthalmology at Jefferson medical College in Philadelphia, where he had earned his medical degree. He is also a graduate of Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.

The Housmans returned from their last stint in Africa in 1996.

David Shenk, then director of overseas missions at EMM, described Housman's medical ministry in Africa as legendary.

Shenk said that in Somalia, where he served, Housman was called "the miracle doctor." He added that Housman was a man who gave "gracious and forthright witness" of Jesus, modeling EMM's core value of uniting word, deed and being in one seamless whole.

Clair Good, representative to Africa for EMM, said: "Who would have known that Housman's medical service to the Maasai was one of the first mission endeavors that eventually led to the birth of a Mennonite church among the Maasai people?"

In subsequent years, Good and his family helped to pioneer EMM church planting work among the Maasai.

Housman is survived by his wife, Miriam; and three children, John Pierre of Arlington, Texas, Ina Sue Fox of Bellingham, Wash., and Heidi Jean Oberholtzer of Mount Joy.