Grace Notes

Helene Stewart Royster (1920-1997) was born into the home of a Methodist evangelist and missionary and spent her first three years in Japan. Her father was appointed to a pastorate in Ashburn, GA, where they remained until his untimely death in 1927. Her mother died two years later, leaving Helene and her siblings in the care of their grandmother.
Helene graduated from Asbury College and from Asbury Theological Seminary. Two years later, she married Powell Royster and from 1948 to 1958, they were appointed to San Jose, Costa Rica, under the Board of Global Ministries to oversee the ministry of the Methodist School and to assist in rural church planting. They returned to Louisville, KY, where Powell was appointed tot he chaplaincy of the newly constructed Methodist Evangelical Hospital.
For more than 30 years, Helene and Powell had overseen the ministry of Operation Appreciation. This unique evangelistic outreach was a cooperative venture between US Army Chaplains at Ft Knox and a group of concerned volunteers in Louisville. This combination of front-line evangelism and Christian leadership training represented Helene’s true heartbeat and vision.
The legacy of Helene Stewart Royster is to be found around the world in the hearts of those she inspired with the singleness of purpose captured in the lines of her prayer: Lord Jesus, can it ever be / That I should cease from serving Thee— / Thee, who hast loved me to the end? / Could I withhold or fail to spend / The last full measure of my strength / Proclaiming Thee to any length? / What Thou has given me I’ll give / As long as Thou dost let me live!