I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Hoehner about 18 years ago when I went home with his daughter and my college dorm suite mate and friend, Debbie Hoehner. (Debbie’s sister Susan was below-mentioned Laura Wilcox’s roommate whom I got to know a bit through having Bible study in their room, and I may have even been on a couple of dates with Debbie’s brother David!) I remember Debbie taking me into her dad’s study, books stacked all around, and saying that he was writing a commentary on the book of Ephesians. “At least that’s what he tells us he’s been doing in there for the past several years!” she joked.
The Hoehners hosted me with much warmth, and I went away greatly impacted by this godly and extremely fun family.
Debbie and I have kept in touch via phone and email through the years. She serves on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ in the city of Yekaterinburg, Russia where she works with university students and recently started a support and advocacy group for families of children with Down Syndrome. Two summers ago, she called to ask if we would be able to host her and her parents for a night, as they would be traveling in the New England area. We were so excited to see them.
They arrived on a Saturday afternoon and we enjoyed dinner and lively conversation on those two taboo topics…..religion(actually, Theology) & politics. I enjoyed showing Dr. Hoehner (he made us call him Harold) – the renowned New Testament scholar -Kory’s beginning Greek workbooks! His wife, Gini, took great interest in each of the kids, even bringing them a gift – Puzzlemania magazines. (After returning to Texas, she sent them more in the mail!) Gini decided to head to bed around 10:30p.m., but Harold didn’t seem quite ready to retire, so we offered him a bowl of ice cream. He accepted heartily and sat in our living room eating ice cream and talking with Robert for the next hour or so. Robert used the time to ask him questions about his conversion and to glean wisdom on other topics such as parenting. Debbie and I chatted in the dining room- half listening in, half catching up with each other and chopping fruit and vegetables for a lunch at church the next day. It was a rare and wonderfully refreshing evening!
(Having fellow Texans at our house in Amherst usually is!)
The next day, we all went to church together. Robert was taking a few weeks off from preaching since it was summertime, so we wondered if we should tell Nate, the young preacher of the morning, just WHO would be in the congregation that day. It might have added a bit of hermeneutical pressure! 🙂
The sermon was approved, and we enjoyed a salad lunch in the church basement before the Hoehners left for their next destination.
The following fall, Robert planned to preach/teach through the book of Ephesians. And guess whose commentary had been recently published? That’s right, the papers and books that I saw stacked in that study all those years ago had finally been transformed into what most have called the best and most detailed commentary on the book of Ephesians ever written. And with just a few clicks of the mouse, it arrived at our doorstep late that summer so that Robert could glean yet again from Dr. Hoehner’s years of study and experience.
We miss you being here, Dr. Hoehner, spurring us on to be students of the Word and sons and daughters of the Lord. And we pray for the Hoehner family to be comforted in their great loss.
This story reflects a mere 24 hours of time spent with Dr. Hoehner. Read on to grasp the scope of this wonderful man’s godly legacy on so many others….
What a lovely tribute to one of your heroes. Sending condolences for your loss.
Shirley