BUDD, Steve Gordon (EMCC Ordained Minister; served at Hoadley EMC, Alberta)
April 19, 1947 - December 9, 2024
Reverend Steve Gordon Budd of Hoadley, Alberta, passed away at home on Monday, December 9, 2024, at the age of 77 years. He is now resting in the comfort of his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Steve was born on April 19, 1947, in Rimbey, Alberta, the firstborn son of Orville and Jean (nee Steeves) Budd who were residents of the Iola District. Steve obtained most of his schooling in Bluffton and Red Deer. After graduation, he went on to attend the Mountain View Bible College in Didsbury, Alberta. It was there that Steve met a lovely young lady from Nebraska named Elaine Ruth Thornton. They were married in Nebraska on August 5, 1968, and shared 56 wonderful years together.
Motivated by a strong prompting, his love for his Lord, and his concern for others, Steve became a minister. His first church was the Montgomery United Missionary Church in Calgary. Following Montgomery, Steve and Elaine pastored at Meeting Creek and Athabasca, Alberta. Steve then took time off from pastoring, moving to Square Lake, Alberta, north of Lac La Biche, where he and his brother-in-law ran a Christian-based guest ranch with lots of help from family and friends. While there, he also worked for Alberta Central Airways as office manager and dispatch.
The family moved back to Athabasca in 1985, where Steve took up farming while still working for Alberta Central Airways. On November 11, 1988, in the midst of an unforgettable Remembrance Day hunting accident, Steve promised God he would return to preaching if he survived. God performed a miracle and still had plans for Steve’s life. That accident was followed by 36 years of health challenges, miracles, countless prayers of friends and family, and sheer determination on his part. Steve returned to the ministry, first in Oyen and then in Cremona, Alberta, where he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C from tainted blood transfusions.
When he was able, Steve returned to pastoring, this time to the Hoadley Evangelical Missionary Church. After his health failed again and he resigned at Hoadley, Steve retired from active ministry on their Hoadley acreage, but his passion to minister to others was present to the very end.
The full version of the obituary is available here.
The recording of Steve's funeral along with his testimony is available at hemc.churchcenter.com/pages/funerals.
