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Biddlecombe, Harry N.
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A Tribute to Harry N.
Biddlecombe
By His Successor
.
ARRY N . BIDDLEC01£BE was
caug ht unaware s. Death left him
no o pportunity to cover his trail. In the
church office the man stands revealed.
His books speak of his interpre tation of
the ministerial calling. "Hartley Lectures"
tell of hi s primitive Methodist inheritance;
Parker and Maclaren of expository patterns; a Confe rence course g roup of the
four-fold path into our ministry; newer
,·olumes o f knowledge of the latest tendencies in religious thinking. A shelf of
hooks deali ng with Church School mate rials and methods evidence his intere st
in the develo pment of relig ious education.
Expository books prevail.
His serm ons arc here. vVhat did he
preach- rathe r, \ iVhom did he preach? A
curso ry gla nce through the li sts shows a
prevalence of New Testament subjects,
and J ohn's Gospel as a fa vori te fishing
H
N ruu< '/ N . lSUJULJ:.CUMll £
fTround fo r tex ts. A man who li\ es much
i~1 ]ohn's Gospel will be a good mini ster.
Th ese se rmons show he was practical
rath e r than speculative, mo re concerned
ahout th e dawn o f a new clay, here and
now, than ab o ut an apocalyptic mil lenni a ]
dawn .
Withal, he did not make the sermon allimportant but develo ped in the cl1tt~ch a
~ crv i ce t hat was dig nifi ed a nd worsl11 pful.
O n th e desk li es a sketch of se rmon
topics fo r th e year- incomplete, but, not.'~
thi s, th e first S unday in ea ch month ts
filled in thus: Children's Sermon .
Hi s fi) es reveal his metho d-i sm. No sermo n "barrel," but sermons, and ~II other
matters pain s takin gly fil ed and mdexed.
The sam e fi les t ell of his _interest i_n, and
work fo r 1viethoclism, particula rly l11s own
Conference . H e evidently r ega rded himself a s a trust ee of the hono r of th e
1Je troit Confe rence.
.
.
Hi s fl ock pay thei r tribut e 111 pass111g
n :m a t·l<s- genial• gene rous, loya l, love r of
children.
We \\·ho follo w the trai l, salut e you.:). H. Berry.
Jql'\, J / , I!IJ J'
R ev. H arry
N . Btddlecombe
Obituary
T HE
'
Christmas seaso u was saddened
for many persons by the sudden
death of Ha rry N. Biddlecombe, o n
Chris tmas eve, a s he was putting the
final to uches to the altar decorations,
prepa rat ory to a beautiful vesper scn ·icc.
H e had preached the mo rning sermon on
The 1\ati,·ity with much fervor a nd inspiratio n, and was in apparent good
health. He died s ho r tly before 5 o'clock
Sunday C\'Cning.
Harry N. Biddlecomb e wa s born in
Rcdlynch, Wi lt shire, Eng land, D ecember
2, 1880, and a s a very young man began
prea ching. He came to this coun try and
was ass ig ned to a charge ncar the Soo
at the annual conference in 1909. Sen·ing thi s appoin tm ent fo r o ne year, he
was trans ferr ed to H e rma ns ,·ille, Menominee county, where he had a pastorate of two years ; here h e met and married Jessie Dah lem.
Together they enj oyed· pastorates at
Orto nvi lle, Flat R ock, vVarrcn Avenue,
Saginaw, Wayne, Bad Axe and Epworth
C h urch, River Rouge.
F or four years, 1925-29, Mr. Biddiecombe was Field Secretary for the Meth odis t Educational Acl\·ancc, li ving in
Ann A rbor during that time.
T he funera l service was held in the
church auditorium o n Tuesday afternoo n with many fell ow- minis ters, parishioners, and fr iends paying their
respect.
Bishop B lake conducted the service,
a ssisted by Dr. Frui t, Dr. V.Tarren, -Dr.
Gray, Dr. Stair, Rev. Jam es Chapman
and Rev. S . H . Berry. The r obed Epworth choir sang "Dear L o rd and Father
of Man kind," the song chosen by Mr
Biddlecombe a s especially appropriate
for his closing hymn at the morn ing
s ervice.
F ellow mini sters ca rried th eir comrade
to h is last resting place, C. E. Becker;
J , A. Yeoman, S. S. Closson, E. L. Calkins, T homas Pryor, and C. M. Gear1
. I servtce
'
hart. The commttta
was care d
for by Bish op B lake.
Burial was in Huron Va lley Cemetery,
near Flat Rock, where Mr. and Mrs.
Biddlecornbe enjoyed a most hap py pastorate. Special request for interment
there was made by members of the F lat
Rock congregation.
The Funeral
The words of personal appreciation were
broug ht by Doctor Stair, Docto r F ruit
and Bishop B lake.
Dr. Stair a nd Mrs. B iddlccoml>c were .
classma tes and friends at college, and on
Dr. Stair's coming t o Michigan the friend ship of the two families was immediately
r enewed. Doctor Stair pointed out how
his children loved th eir Harry whom they
affection a tely. called thei r ."honey-comb,"
and ho w he 111 tu rn loved them. Docto r
Stair said Harry never g rew up, he always
had th e heart of a child and a g reat place
in his heart for children.
Doctor Fruit spok e of his efficiency and
skill. He commented upon his abi lity, as
Fi eld Agent fo r th e i\I. E. A., t o approach
t he subscribers t o that fund, and at the
same time maintain th eir respect while
ge tting their contribut ions. Do ct o r F ruit
pointed out t hat Epworth Churc.h was
one of the m ost difficult fields o n his district because of the enormous debt but
that he always felt comfo r table in having
B rother B iddlecombe as pa stor a nd was
confident that if any way could be found
through this difficult situation, H arry
Biddlccombe would find that way.
Bishop B lake said that while he personally had known Harry Bidd1ccombc
only a short time, he felt that they had
always been fri ends. Th eir first meeti ng
was in Epwo rth Church, .and Bishop Blake
said that the b road smile a nd the cordial
welcome seemed to say, "I have a big
broad chest, walk right in and make your~elf at hom e. I always w elcome fri ends."
All three of the speakers pointed cut
the high quality of Brot her Biddlccomb c's
character, the valuable work th at he had
done for the Conference as a pastor, as
Field Representative of the i\L E. A. and
as efficient treasurer of the D etroit Annual
Co nference. Few m en haYe con tributed
more to the successful work o f the Confe rence, o r will be mo re g reatly missed l>y
his brethren and the Conference.
Biddlecombe, Harry N.