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Hubert V. Reed

From Central Union Reaper, July 14, 1970.

Reed, Hubert Vance (1912–1989)

By Milton Hook

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Milton Hook, Ed.D. (Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, the United States). Hook retired in 1997 as a minister in the Greater Sydney Conference, Australia. An Australian by birth Hook has served the Church as a teacher at the elementary, academy and college levels, a missionary in Papua New Guinea, and as a local church pastor. In retirement he is a conjoint senior lecturer at Avondale College of Higher Education. He has authored Flames Over Battle Creek, Avondale: Experiment on the Dora, Desmond Ford: Reformist Theologian, Gospel Revivalist, the Seventh-day Adventist Heritage Series, and many magazine articles. He is married to Noeleen and has two sons and three grandchildren.

First Published: April 21, 2023

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Hubert V. Reed served as an evangelist and pastor in Minnesota, South Dakota, Pennsylvania and Florida, and as president of the Carolina and Colorado Conferences.

Family Heritage and Education

Hubert Reed was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on October 14, 1912.1 His parents were Vance Montgomery Reed and his wife Ruth Imogene (Magruder). Vance was a farmer and driver of the school bus at Choctaw on the eastern fringe of Oklahoma City. Hubert was the eldest of three children, his younger siblings being Richard (b. 1916) and Margaret (b. 1927).2

Hubert attended Southwestern Junior College in Keene, Texas, and advanced to Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska, completing the ministerial course and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in May 1937. In the course of earning his tuition fees he gained practical experience in a wood-planning mill and on the Oklahoma oil fields. While at Southwestern Junior College he met Mary Evelyn Robinson (1910-1993). Her preferred name was Evelyn. She graduated from the literary course in 1932. She and Hubert married in 1935 prior to his studies at Union College.3 Their son Vance, their only child, was born in 1942.4

Evangelistic and Pastoral Ministry

In the summer of 1937, Reed began a ministerial internship in the Minnesota Conference.5 His first assignment was to assist Arthur Bietz with an evangelistic effort in Mankato, conducting the song services prior to the preaching.6 Later, he assisted C.E. Smith with a similar series at Redwood Falls.7 In November 1940, Reed launched into a campaign in Granite Falls.8 The Granite Falls church became the central venue for district meetings where he invited members for social evenings and business sessions.9

Reed was ordained in 194110 and continued to conduct evangelism in Minnesota until 1943 when he transferred to the neighbouring South Dakota Conference.11 He conducted major evangelistic efforts at Sioux Falls and Watertown and initiated the “Prophecy Speaks” radio broadcast that aired Sunday mornings on station KSOO in Sioux Falls.12

At Watertown, in 1944, Reed received a call to serve in Puerto Rico. This was considered an overseas mission post because Puerto Rico, though a territory of the United States, was in the denomination’s Inter-American Division.13 However, the results of Evelyn’s medical tests suggested that it would be inadvisable to accept the invitation.14 Instead, the Reeds agreed to move to the East Pennsylvania Conference in early 1945.15

In Pennsylvania, Reed was tasked with caring for more than 100 new converts in the Reading/Wyomissing area who had responded to a recent evangelistic effort. Within months he received another invitation to overseas service, this time in Ecuador. He declined once again, sensing an imperative to nurture the new believers in Pennsylvania.16

Reed ministered in the East Pennsylvania Conference for nearly six years. While serving as pastor of the Temple church in Philadelphia, he accepted a call to the Florida Conference, effective in January 1951.17 He was assigned to the Florida Sanitarium church in Orlando, the largest in the conference, and then transferred to the Miami Temple church in 1957.18

Conference President—Carolina and Colorado

In 1958, Reed was elected president of the Carolina Conference, its territory covering North Carolina and South Carolina, and its administrative office in Charlotte, North Carolina. The constituency was formed from 53 churches and a total baptized membership of 4,094. As president his duties included chairing the board of management of Mt. Pisgah Academy in Candler, North Carolina, and serving on the governing boards of Southern Union Conference institutions, namely, Southern Missionary College, Florida Sanitarium and Hospital, and Walker Memorial Sanitarium and Hospital in Avon Park, Florida.19

Reed transferred from the Carolina Conference in 1963 to be president of the Colorado Conference.20 The headquarters were located in Denver. It was a larger constituency numbering 8,527 members in 72 churches.21 His ex-officio roles were chairman of the board of trustees of Campion Academy at Loveland, vice-chairman of the board of trustees of Boulder Memorial Hospital, a member of the board of directors of Porter Memorial Hospital in Denver and a member of the executive committee of the board of trustees of his alma mater, Union College.22

Later Years

In 1973, after a decade at the helm of the Colorado Conference, Reed accepted a newly-configured departmental responsibility with the Central Union Conference titled Health and Hospital Services secretary. His extensive experience with governing boards gained in 15 years as a conference president prepared him well for this position. In addition to promoting healthful living and recruiting Adventist physicians to locate in the union territory, Reed chaired the boards of the three major medical institutions in the Central Union, a responsibility typically borne by the union president.23 One of the three, Shawnee Mission Medical Center, was located in Kansas. The other two were the Colorado hospitals—Boulder and Porter.

Elder Reed retired in November 1977, having completed nearly 41 years of service.24 He passed away in Fort Worth, Texas, on December 24, 1989.25 His wife, Evelyn, passed away on June 13, 1993. They were interred together in Keene Cemetery, Texas.26

Sources

Campbell, Maynard V. “New District Supervised by Elder Peugh.” Northern Union Outlook, October 21, 1941.

Herr, T. G. “Effort in Sioux Falls.” Northern Union Outlook, September 21, 1943.

“Hubert V. Reed obituary.” Columbia Union Visitor, May 1, 1990.

“Hubert Vance Reed.” FamilySearch. Accessed January 26, 2023. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/GQDT-8NR.

“Mary Evelyn Reed.” Find A Grave. Memorial ID 125315514, February 19, 2014. Accessed January 26, 2023. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125315514/mary-evelyn-reed.

Nightingale, R. H. “Elder Reed Is Secretary of Health and Hospital Services.” Central Union Reaper, April 24, 1973.

Nightingale, R. H. “Welcome to Elder H.V. Reed.” Southern Tidings, January 31, 1951.

Peugh, Virgil E. “Granite Falls Effort.” Northern Union Outlook, November 19, 1940.

Peugh, Virgil E. “News Notes.” Northern Union Outlook, March 26, 1940.

Peugh, Virgil E. “The Mankato Effort-Opening Night.” Northern Union Outlook, September 21, 1937.

Reed, Hubert V. “Rally for Sixth District.” Northern Union Outlook, March 25, 1941.

Reed, Hubert V. Secretariat Appointee Files, RG 21, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A. (GCA).

Rees, Don R. “We Introduce Three New Southern Union Leaders.” Southern Tidings, July 23, 1958.

Rudy, H. L. “Welcome to Elder H.V. Reed.” Northern Union Outlook, July 13, 1943.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbooks. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Online Archives, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Yearbooks/Forms/Allitems.aspx.

“South Dakota News Notes.” Northern Union Outlook, November 28, 1944.

Notes

  1. “Hubert V. Reed obituary,” Columbia Union Visitor, May 1, 1990, 23.↩

  2. “Hubert Vance Reed,” FamilySearch, accessed January 26, 2023, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/GQDT-8NR.↩

  3. Hubert Vance Reed Ministerial Internship Application, May 11, 1937, in Hubert V. Reed, Secretariat Appointee Files, RG 21, Record 46874, GCA.↩

  4. Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-1995, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.: Minnesota Department of Health, accessed April 20, 2023, Ancestry.com.↩

  5. Reed Ministerial Internship Application, May 11, 1937, Reed Appointee File, RG 21, Record 46874, GCA.↩

  6. Virgil E. Peugh, “The Mankato Effort-Opening Night,” Northern Union Outlook, September 21, 1937, 3.↩

  7. Virgil E. Peugh, “News Notes,” Northern Union Outlook, March 26, 1940, 3.↩

  8. Virgil E. Peugh, “Granite Falls Effort,” Northern Union Outlook, November 19, 1940, 5.↩

  9. Hubert V. Reed, “Rally for Sixth District,” Northern Union Outlook, March 25, 1941, 4.↩

  10. The ordination does not appear to have been reported in a church periodical but the Minnesota Conference section of the Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook lists Reed as a ministerial licentiate in 1941 and as an ordained minister in 1942.↩

  11. H.L. Rudy, “Welcome to Elder H.V. Reed,” Northern Union Outlook, July 13, 1943, 6.↩

  12. T.G. Herr, “Effort in Sioux Falls,” Northern Union Outlook, September 21, 1943, 6; “South Dakota News Notes,” Northern Union Outlook, November 28, 1944, 7.↩

  13. Hubert V. Reed to T.J. Michael, July 25, 1944, Reed Appointee File, RG 21, Record 46874, GCA.↩

  14. H.M. Walton to T.J. Michael, August 31, 1944, Reed Appointee File, RG 21, Record 46874, GCA.↩

  15. Hubert V. Reed to Alexander W. Cormack, July 25, 1945, Reed Appointee File, RG 21, Record 46874, GCA.↩

  16. Ibid.↩

  17. R.H. Nightingale, “Welcome to Elder H.V. Reed,” Southern Tidings, January 31, 1951, 8.↩

  18. Don R. Rees, “We Introduce Three New Southern Union Leaders,” Southern Tidings, July 23, 1958, 1.↩

  19. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook for 1959, 64, 257, 275, 288.↩

  20. R.H. Nightingale, “Reed Elected President Colorado Conference,” Central Union Reaper, June 18, 1963, 1.↩

  21. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook for 1964, 32-33.↩

  22. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook for 1971, 316, 383, 400, 417.↩

  23. R.H. Nightingale, “Elder Reed Is Secretary of Health and Hospital Services,” Central Union Reaper, April 24, 1973, 2.↩

  24. “Shawver Named President Of Hospital Corporation,” Central Union Reaper, November 3, 1977, 4.↩

  25. “Hubert V. Reed obituary.”↩

  26. “Mary Evelyn Reed,” Find A Grave, Memorial ID 125315514, February 19, 2014, accessed January 26, 2023, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125315514/mary-evelyn-reed.↩

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Hook, Milton. "Reed, Hubert Vance (1912–1989)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. April 21, 2023. Accessed January 22, 2025. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DA0U.

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Hook, Milton. "Reed, Hubert Vance (1912–1989)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. April 21, 2023. Date of access January 22, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DA0U.

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Hook, Milton (2023, April 21). Reed, Hubert Vance (1912–1989). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved January 22, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DA0U.

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