Hugh's News & Commentary

Jim Rousseau, 89, son of Talmadge Henry Rousseau and Eva Brown Rousseau IPHC missionaries to Hong Kong, passed away on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, in his home in Pensacola, FL. He was born May 7, 1920. He had been a career diplomat for the U. S. State Department and held some high positions in our government. When his father died, he briefly took over the leadership of the work in Hong Kong until missionaries could be sent from the states.

His darling and faithful wife, Eleanor Cates Rousseau, was by his side constantly during his hospitalization and at the home when he breathed his last breath. He was able to die peacefully without any medication at 2 p. m. on Tuesday, February 2, 2010. He was buried in Franklin Springs, and the Rev. Mr. O. C. Collins, their pastor in Newnan, GA, for many years conducted a private graveside service for the family and few friends.

Two days before Jim's death, he was in the ICU at the hospital in Pensacola, FL. Eleanor and Kay (Karen) Goodman went in his room to see him. He was staring upward and exclaiming "It's wonderful, It's wonderful!" over and over again. Then, he said, "I don't know the time, or when, but it's wonderful." Jim continued, "Are you coming?" and Eleanor said, "Yes." And he said the same thing to Kay, and she responded by saying, "Yes." His face was radiant with joy, anticipation, and peace. He closed his eyes and the vision of glory had apparently gone.

Before his illness he often talked about heaven, and during their times of prayer together he would lift up his hands to heaven praising the Lord. Jim wanted to die at home. His doctor allowed him to come home and took away all the support systems.

Eleanor Cates Rousseau is a sister to Princeton Cates, and a sister-in-law to Sybil Rousseau Cates.They all served together in Hong Kong.  Eleanor was born September 19, 1925, and is now 84. She was a career missionary for 42 years in Hong Kong. Afterward, she felt a call to go to Israel and was a missionary there for 15 years.

Eleanor was a small girl when my mother, Julia Payne, was a missionary to Hong Kong and Pakhoi, 1920-1929, before she married my father, Hugh Henry Morgan, and prior to the birth of my older sister, Mary Evelyn Morgan McDuff and my birth, on December 12, 1932, in Birmingham, Alabama.

I had the privilege to call and talk with Eleanor earlier this week. She is a delightful person with a great memory. I tried some of the Chinese words to check out my pronunciation I had learned from my mother as a child, and sang "Jesus Loves me, This I Know for the Bible Tells Me So" in Chinese, and she was amazed and said I sang it perfectly. I was even more amazed that I could still do that. I think she was polite and kind, and reluctant to correct my pronunciation.

Eleanor and Kay Goodman have gone to Israel for a month having flown there on Monday evening, May 17. Kay has a House of Prayer ministry there (Apple of His Eye). Kay is the daughter of Pentecostal preachers, the Williams. Ron is a song writer and a worship leader and is the son of the late Rev. Hal T. Goodman, and Nell Goodman. Ron and Kay Goodman have moved Eleanor into their home to care for her.

If you would like to write Eleanor Cates Rousseau here is her mailing address:

Mrs. Eleanor Cates Rousseau
1650 Winston Street
Cantonment, FL 32513

[Editor's note: I am grateful to Lou Ann Lewis Locke who served as a missionary in Hong Kong with the Cates. She and her husband Kenneth Locke reside in Donaldson, Arizona. I am so dependent upon you my readers for this kind of news that we all need to know. It may very well be that this is the only place you will read about the death of Jim Rousseau. May God bless the memory of this man who loved Jesus and was a faithful servant until the very end of his long and fruitful life.]

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