The first child in a large family, Alton Eugene Hughes was born to a farming family in Midwestern United States of America on January 17, 1898. Children had plenty of responsibilities on the farms in those days, and there was little time for idleness. But at times he’d love to take his dog and go to a pond out in the pasture, where they would swim. He would dunk the dog and watch it swim its way out. Young Alton did well in his schoolwork, attending a local school in Oklahoma.
When he was quite young his mother heard an Adventist preacher. She was convinced that what she heard was true. All the family had been Baptists for many years, so her decision to become a Seventh-day Adventist presented real problems, but she was firm in her conviction and faithful in her trust. Three of her five children followed their mother in her decision eventually.
When Alton was finishing High school, his father offered to pay his way to attend college for training to be a county farm agent, a very respected office. Rather he elected to attend an Adventist college and receive training as a preacher and teacher. His father was very displeased, and told him he would never get a cent of help with plans like that. He was used to work, however, and spent summers selling gospel books and Bibles. So he paid his own way to attend Southwestern Junior College in Texas, to get the education he wanted. He got one of his brothers and two of his sisters to leave home and attend college as he had. By applying himself, he finished junior college. Bible subjects were hard at first, so when junior college was ended, Alton decided to take another year of Bible studies. He was also an avid student of Mrs. E. G. White’s writings, and continued studying her books.
He found a lovely girl of German descent who shared his love of the Lord. She had been a colporteur, as he had, and was totally committed to service for the Lord. He and Emma Ortner were soon married in 1921, and began their joint ministry for the Lord with the Adventist Church. They began work with an evangelist couple, Elder and Mrs. W. E. Barr, in Oklahoma. Evangelistic meetings at that time were major events, which were held in tents, and lasted many months as preaching of the word was augmented with classes on health principles, cooking classes, and hydrotherapy instructions and demonstrations.
After the tent meetings, Hughes were asked to pastor a new church group in Ardmore, Oklahoma. While there, a son was born in 1923, and they had begun to think of service for the Lord overseas. They thought some of Africa, but when a call came for China, they did not hesitate to go. With a seven-month old child, they left family and homeland in 1924 for a commitment to a people they had never met, but would grow to love with all their hearts.
Arriving in China, after a long boat ride of several weeks across the sea, they transferred to a river steamer to travel up the grand, long Yangtze River to Chungking in Szechwan. They were to become very familiar with boats during the next fifteen years—steamers, junks, and sampons, in addition to occasional travel on the sea.
In Chungking there was plenty to do, although the West China Union Mission had only two churches with a total of sixty-six members. M. C. Warren, Superintendent of the mission, had been the one who had contacted young Hughes and his wife encouraging them to come to China. Headquarters for the Union Mission was in Chungking, with the East Szechwan Mission office in Chungking, too, and the West Szechwan Mission office in Chengtu. Hughes was put right to work as a licentiate minister in the Union, and Mrs. Hughes was given credentials as a missionary licentiate along with Mrs. M. C. Warren.
By 1925 Hughes was asked to be Director of the East Szechwan Mission and to serve on the executive committee of the Union at the age of 27. Others on the executive committee were C. L. Blanford, J. N. Andrews, M. C. Warren, C. A. Woolsey, Mrs. C. M. Warren, Hwang Dzi Gin, and Shi Ru Lin. The two churches had grown to 103 members in the Union Mission. The new responsibilities were a challenge to young Pastor Hughes, but he enjoyed the able help of Pastor Sri Ru Lin and licentiate minister Wang An His.
West Szechwan Mission had an unsettled time for leadership in 1926, though a developing Chinese Leader, Hwang Dzi Gin, was doing a good job in providing stability to the church. A. E. Hughes was asked to move to Chengtu and be the director of that mission, and the Secretary-Treasurer appointed was Emma Hughes. A second child had joined the family in China, a daughter named Arlene, and later another daughter was born in Chengtu, but she did not live long, and was laid to rest there in Chengtu.
Hwang Dzi Gin and Alton Hughes worked closely together as a team, being the only two ministers in the West Szechwan Mission for a time. By 1929 the West Szechwan Mission had a growing work. Joining the ministers of the mission there was a new worker by the name of Yu Tsei Min. Also two church school teachers were now working with the mission. They were La Da Hwa and Lin Han Chin. The mission now had the first Sabbath School Secretary, too. It was Mrs. A. E. Hughes, who added this to her duties as Secretary-Treasurer of the mission. Soon more departments were added: Book and Bible House with Dzen Fu Yun, and Field and Home Missions with Chen Tsei Chiao. Now the Mission Committee consisted of: A. E. Hughes, Mrs. Hughes, Hwang Dzi Gin, Yu Tsei Min, Lu Din Fang, Tsao Deh Ren, and Dzen Fu Yun.
Hwang Dzi Gin was a real man of God and a blessing to the church. He was a scholarly man as well as spiritual. On one occasion a young peanut vendor was on the street near the mission compound when he appeared to have a seizure of some sort, falling to the ground and spilling his wares. Pastor Hwang came on the scene and perceived it to be an evidence of an evil spirit, and prayed for the boy, ordering the evil presence to leave him. The boy recovered immediately and was able to resume his life normally. Healing, or wholeness, was attributed to the God of the Mission.
On another occasion he was given a dream in the night, showing a child of a church member in a remote part of the city who had a severe illness with fever. Long before telephones came into that area, Hwang awakened, and having a knowledge of herbal medicine, dispatched a runner to take the needed medication to the home where it was used for the child who was found in need.
In 1931 the new China division was listed in the Yearbook for the first time, with Dr. H. W. Miller as the president. There were 150 churches by then, with over 9,000 members. The West China Union Mission had grown to 15 churches with over 650 members.
During the summer of 1931 the Hughes family of four returned to their homeland for a year of furlough and study. It was a time of adventure for the children as they had never known America. During the school year all four went off to school every morning, with Pastor Hughes gaining his B. A. Degree by the end of the year. It was a great time seeing all the relatives before returning to what nowseemed like home – to China.
Soon after returning to China, Hughes was asked to begin a training school for young workers, at first named the West China Union Bible Institute. As first principal he had a faculty to assemble, a location to find, and students to be recruited. It seemed for the time that it would be best to locate the school up the Gia Ling River, from Chungking, in Bao Ning. Traveling up the river by boat, towed by men on a tow path, was slow travel. Eventually arriving, school started with Lee Djung Sheng, assistant principal and preceptor, Mrs. Nina Lee, preceptress, Li Ih Seng, and Liu Li Dzi. These were true pioneers as they launched into a new work as people of faith. Students came from all directions.
Eventually, due to an unstable political situation and wandering quasi-military troop movements, the situation became very difficult for operating a school safely and efficiently. The telegraph was cut off ultimately, with no access to mission counsel, but a decision was made to move the school. By then there were no boats in dock, as boat crews had been pressed into the service of the wandering troops. Pastor Hughes took someone with him and went down to the river bank and knelt on the beach, praying earnestly for the Lord to send a boat. Before long a solitary boat appeared, but the owner declined to be hired, as they shouted to each other across the intervening water. He said he had no crew. Finally he was offered the male students to row the large wooden boat, which was his main need. It was agreed, and the “school” was soon on board. It was an adventurous trip through hostile country, but finally the school was relocated on a beautiful hill above the river, a place which became known as Da Bao, near Tsi Chi Kou, a few miles from Chungking.
At this new location, new buildings were erected for the school and homes for faculty. C. A. Woolsey headed up the building program. It was a cheerful faculty and student body as they occupied their new quarters. The faculty was enlarged as the student body increased. Mrs. Hughes operated a little clinic and dispensary for the school as there was no hospital or doctor anywhere near. There was a real assortment of illnesses to treat, including malaria, typhoid, colds, influenza, stomach aches, as well as bruises and cuts. She even took on the challenges of midwifery on a few occasions. Also she taught English at the school, along with home-schooling her own children during the day.
Pastor Hughes taught Bible and administered the school as well as serving as pastor and chaplain. By now he was teaching and preaching regularly in the Chinese language. During the earlier days in Chengtu, as well as here at Da Bao, his family was the only resident family from outside China for considerable periods of time, so the family acquired the language of China quite readily. They loved their work and loved the people
Each day was started at the school by a loud ringing bell outdoors, which could be heard all over campus, rousing all from their peaceful sleep. Not many enjoyed hearing that sound in the dark early hour. It caused some to feel ill will toward the bell-ringer. However, on communion Sabbath, it was noticed one time that the bell-ringer had a number of fellow students clustered around him, wanting to ask forgiveness for words and thoughts about him, and it was soon arranged to have twobasins, one for each foot, as the young men took only time to wash one foot each. They were practicing what they believed and felt. Many young people were trained for the Lord’s work at what came to be known as the West China Training Institute.
Around 1936 Hughes was asked to be Director of the Shensi Mission, with headquarters in Sian. This mission had only been organized since 1933. He also found it necessary to be the Secretary-Treasurer, but he had an able executive committee, including Hsiao Djeng Hsiu, Djia Tai Hsiang, Chen Peh Dao, Fan Dzi Hsing, and Djang Dzi Chien, the first three being Licentiate Ministers.
While in Sian he installed a gravity-running water system for the mission home in which his family lived. There was a large wooden tub on the back porch, with pipes to the kitchen and bathroom. Water was carried by buckets and dumped into the tub which was on a raised platform. This running water was a joy to use.
In 1937 Chang Tzu Chien became Secretary-Treasurer of the Shensi Mission, which continued to have 12 churches and eighteen companies serving over 500 members.
In 1938 Dr. H. W. Miller had established another hospital in the very heart of China, in the Wuhan area, near the Yangtze River, and Pastor Hughes was called to be chaplain and Mrs. Hughes to serve as matron of the new institution. This was in war time and there were many heart-rending situations to deal with, as bombers did their damage in the city, and ambulances and trucks did their best to bring wounded civilians out to the hospital for care. On one occasion a bomb was dropped right over the hospital, but apparently the hand of Providence gently pushed it off to land in a little lake nearby. There were many and varied opportunities to serve the patients and staff there. Madam Chiang Kai Shek was very interested in this hospital, having been a contributor, and had a home available on the campus, where she could stay when visiting.
Time seemed to fly, and another seven-year service period had passed so quickly by 1939. It was time to go on furlough again. Many of their belongings were left, as they fully expected to return, as before. But apparently it was not meant to be. War conditions and some health problems made it seem best not to return in 1940. It was a major disappointment to the whole family. China had become their home and their life. It had not been easy, but they loved China very dearly. Seven times these missionaries were forced to flee for their lives, losing all their possessions. Libraries were the hardest to replace. China was an unsettled country with the invasion of the Japanese, and war lords who instigated political unrest. But the work ultimately would continue.
In the United States the Hughes family settled in East Tennessee where the children, Ross and Arlene, were able to attend school. Later, Elder Hughes pastored churches in Georgia and Tennessee. For several years he became a businessman with a window service at Kingsort, Tennessee. Employing four Adventist families, he was able to provide a nucleus for starting a new church in a sizeable city with no Adventist presence. As time passed, their son became a dentist and their daughter married a man who became an Adventist minister.
After an extended illness, Mrs. Hughes went to her rest in 1966. She and Elder Hughes were then living near their daughter, whose husband was pastor of Ellijay, Georgia, church. Elder Hughes continued to help in the church there and wherever he was needed.
Two years later he was called to teach Bible at a nursing school in Fletcher, North Carolina.Teaching was a challenge that winter, living alone, but romance eased some of the problems.In June of l969 he married a nurse who was a widow with two children.He was a faithful husband and father, who continued to study the Bible privately with people, and saw baptisms as a result.After a period of failing health, he passed to his rest in the hope of the Lord on April l8, 1991.He sleeps now in Waycross, Georgia. He was proud of his seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.He loved his family and his extended family of Adventist Christians around the world, and lookedforward to seeing them all again.