Edgar Franklin Speer, Jr.

If you want to find Jesus, go to the poor. Perhaps without even knowing this now- famous expression attributed to St. Francis, Edgar Speer lived his life consistently bearing witness to this way of Christ.

Edgar Speer was born November 19,1935 in Shreveport, LA to Navy officer Edgar Speer, Sr. and schoolteacher Helena Lois Craver. His mother, who lost three husbands to illness in succession, was impacted by the Great Depression while she was trying to care for her young children. Despite abject poverty and tragedy in her own life, Lois would bake bread in the Houston heat and have Eddie deliver it to neighbors as a gesture of kindness. Edgar was certainly taking notes.

Edgar finished high school in 1955 at Jeff Davis High School in Houston, Texas and attended Harding College in Searcy, AK where he graduated in 1962. At Harding, Edgar drove his green Triumph 3 and was known as “Ed the Red” because of the op-eds he wrote in the college paper full of progressive ideas promoting racial and economic justice for all people. He was quite a catch, and he married his college sweetheart Karen Darnell in Lubbock, Texas on June 7, 1963. The newlyweds soon headed to Washington, DC so that Edgar could pursue a master’s degree in American Studies at American University. Several months later, Edgar participated in the historical March on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; he encouraged students he knew to do the same. That was Edgar’s way. He didn’t just talk about truth or justice and the Way of Christ. He showed up and lived as a radical follower.

Following graduate studies in D.C., his first job was to help open The House of the Carpenter to care for poor children after school in east Boston in 1967. During that same year, Karen and Edgar’s first baby, Hector Keith, was stillborn eight months into the pregnancy. Up until his final months of life, Edgar spoke lovingly about his son Hector and looked forward to getting to know him in heaven. Helena Marie and Sinda Kalin came along in 1969 and 1973. As a bibliophile who enjoyed the intellectual life, he ended up opening Reader’s Choice, a small bookstore in Cambridge, MA which he ran for several years. The Speer family of four moved to Houston in 1978 when the oil economy was booming. They raised the girls there and moved up to Princeton, NJ to follow Sinda and her family with new grandson, Jordan Lee Vanderpool, in tow in 1999.

Everywhere Edgar went, he was a good father and shared God’s love in tangible ways. As a life-long educator, he tutored anyone who hung out with him on composting, woodburning stoves, Scripture, clipboards, not wasting anything, classical music, firm handshakes, warm hugs, and contemplative prayer. Edgar lived with a spiritual depth rarely seen. In the mid 1990’s, he began to seek out more spiritual depth in his daily life, which he found in contemplative prayer, first in Thomas Merton’s work. He studied deeply Thomas Keating’s Open Mind Open Heart. Through contemplation, meditation, and silence, Edgar joined the Roman Catholic Church and ended up teaching in the RCIA program at St. Vincent de Paul in Houston. In the last two decades of his life, Edgar spent many hours per day in silent prayer, all the while continuing to mentor many in these contemplative ways while attending daily mass and regular services at Dayspring Baptist with Karen. If you met him any time after 2000, he might have handed you one of his business cards that read in the place where one typically sees job titles “Presence: Silence, Stillness, Solitude; Contemplation, Path to Peace.”

Not only was he an incredible Dad to Helena and Sinda and the best “Pop” that Jordan, Nathan, and Kalin could have imagined, he also “adopted” many young sons who needed a father or father figure especially during the time Karen and Edgar lived in Waco, TX beginning in 2004. He was never too busy for anyone, and the young always had a special place in his heart. After picking one or more of the grandkids up from school, Edgar spent countless hours teaching them to read, write or buy bananas for the poor. Edgar “adopted” Russell and James McCurry who were ‘lost’ after living at the Methodist Children’s Home as teenagers. Edgar provided for their physical, spiritual, and intellectual needs, ensuring that they were safe and knew that God loved them. Like others Edgar impacted over the years, young men at Baylor sought out Edgar’s wisdom and listening ear. Chandler, Jacob, Eli, Joel, Micah, Drew, Cameron, Kyle, Jace, Aaron, Collin, Justin, Chris, and Britt all knew God’s love through Edgar’s compassionate presence and steady love.

Edgar was adamant that life is not about getting and consuming. In fact, he lived with a certain asceticism that was striking when you met him. From an early career with The House of the Carpenter in Boston (1960’s) to regular visits through the Prison Ministry at St. Louis Catholic Church (2020’s), the throughline of Edgar’s life was showing up for those who most needed a caring presence. If you are interested in learning how he followed the Way of Christ, we recommend a manuscript that Edgar completed in 2016. The Quest for Meaning: Mirroring the Journey; Recollecting, reflecting, remembering mainly tells the narrative of his mom’s life, but it serves as a reflection on the values she instilled in Edgar. (Feel free to email TerryLVanderpool@gmail.com for an electronic copy.) In fact, the story of how his mom baked bread for their neighbors in Houston summarizes nicely Edgar’s life philosophy. In his own words from the manuscript,

So why did mom bake all those loaves of bread? So that a little boy’s life might be transformed each time he hands bread to a neighbor. It is he who ‘receives’ and he knows the spirit of God is resonating within. The bread is not baked […] because a widow with three children didn’t have anything to do and likes baking in Houston’s 100-degree heat. It is not because mom has a bunch of money and wants to splash goodies around the neighborhood […] The bread is all about teaching a boy how to live life with meaning because the journey is about giving and serving. It’s giving self, even when you don’t feel like it. […] And sometimes it’s giving money, even when we only have a widow’s penny. And that’s grace by which we are saved. Today wherever my journey takes me—the overprivileged and overstuffed, the homeless and the hungry, the addicted—I can see a screen door opening to receive a loaf of bread and hear an old lady with a wrinkled face say, ‘O thank you Eddie, I love your mom’s homemade bread.’ And I know this delivery boy is ‘receiving’ boundless gifts.

Uncle Ed (Eddie, Pop, Dad, Edgar), thanks for being transformed by the bread of life. Thanks for teaching us how to be bread for others and give bread to others. Without a doubt, you increased the population in heaven and made life sweeter for all of us here! We miss you and are confident that you will soon be hearing the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”

Edgar is survived by many loved ones and friends including the following family members:

• Karen Janet Speer, loving wife of 61 years,
• Daughter and son-in-law Helena Marie Speer and James Lisa,
• Daughter and son-in-law Sinda Kalin and Terry Lee, and grandchildren Nathan August, Kalin Marie as well as Jordan Lee and Annie (m.) and great- granddaughter Therese Marie Vanderpool,
• Brother and sister-in-law William and Earlene Ackley, and nieces and nephews Connie and Richard Richter, William and JoAnn Ackley Jr., Cindy McGough, Dan and Mary McGough, and Walt and Stephanie Ackley and their children and grandchildren,
• Brother-in-law and sister-in-law Ralph and Linda (d.) and niece and nephews Rebecca, Ryan, and Zachary VanWagner and their spouses and children,
• Brother-in-law and sister-in-law Royce Clay Sr. and Patricia Clay (d.), niece Brenda and Steve Conner (m.), nephew Royce Don Clay Jr. (d.), and their children and grandchildren,
• Brother-in-law and sister-in-law Billy J. and Sheila Darnell and niece and nephews Lindsey and Darren Darnell,
• Nieces and nephews Linda Milmo, Wayne McCammon, David McCammon and Margie McCammon (d.) of Nellie and Gettys McCammon,
• Nieces and nephew Lewanna, Joy, Judy (d.), and Marvin of Willie Ruth McAlpine (d.) and their children and grandchildren, and
• Nieces and nephews of Frances Daves (d.) and Jane Ackley (d.) and their children and grandchildren.

Edgar is preceded in death by many loved ones and friends including:

• Father and mother Edgar Franklin Speer, Sr. and Helena Lois Craver,
• Son, Hector Keith Speer,
• Aunt and Uncle Tom and Verna Craver,
• Sisters Jane Ackley and Frances Daves,
• Cousins Donald Ray and Golden Speer,
• Stepsister Nellie and brother-in-law Gettys McCammon, and
• Stepsister Willie Ruth McAlpine.