A PEACE LEGACY 25 YEARS LATER
                             (April, 1996 Issue)

          Ted Studebaker's message is the affirmation of life

   On May 4, 1971, the ABC-TV evening news carried an extraordinary
story. It was of Ted Studebaker, a young man who told his draft board
that he could not conscientiously accept military service, but that he
was perfectly willing to go to Vietnam. And to Vietnam he went, not
with weapons but with a guitar and an idea that tools can accomplish
more than guns.

   The network telecast told of Ted's agricultural work with the
mountain people at Di Linh, in the highlands 140 miles northeast
of Saigon; of his marriage a fortnight earlier to Lee Ven Pak, a
Chinese volunteer from Hong Kong; and of his martyrdom on April
26, when the Vietcong barraged Di Linh with mortar and invaded
the house of the Vietnam Christian Service unit, shooting Ted to
death.

   Ashes and wind. As the ABC coverage continued, Ted's recording of
"Blowin' in the Wind" accompanied scenes of the memorial service at Ted's
church, the West Milton, Ohio, Church of the Brethren; of pastor Phillip
Bradley's eulogy for Ted; and of Ted's parents, Zelma and Stanley
Studebaker, and his widow, Ven Pak, pointing to where his ashes were to
be scattered on the family farm some remaining, the rest blowing in the
wind, as Ven Pak remarked.

   Jim Kincaid, the ABC correspondent, concluded:

   "Ted Studebaker was a man who believed peace was possible. He had his
roots in the land and it occurred to him that a land that needed him was
a tortured land far away from his farm in Ohio. He went there willingly;
now he has come home."

   Coincidence. Days later, aboard a flight to the east coast, a
Yale University student divulged to a seatmate the impact the ABC
portrayal of Ted had on him and his friends. As they watched,
everything ceased, he said, and he and his group entered into a
lengthy discussion of the war and Ted's witness.

   It was then his listener introduced herself: Phyllis Cribby, a
nurse in Vietnam Christian Service. She was a witness to the
ordeal in Di Linh and had accompanied Ven Pak and Ted's body
home. The university student was astounded.

   Intrigue. Twenty-five years later, Ted's story continues to
intrigue and astound: his love for the Montagnard people, his
ready grasp of the Vietnamese and Koho languages, his courtship
with Ven Pak and their wedding performed in Koho in the Tin Lanh
church, his sensitive response to a critic back home written the
night of his death and his choice to stay on a third year in
Brethren Volunteer Service.

   In some ways Ted seemed driven  his graduation from Manchester College
in three years instead of four; his prompt pursuit of a master's in social
work from Florida State University; his self-assured remark upon leaving
for Vietnam, "This boy knows what he's doing."

   Patience. Yet in working with mountain folk in Vietnam he
exercised patience as he introduced a meatier strain of chickens
and such labor savers as a rice huller and a rototiller. He
worried, though, whether the rototiller was appropriate technology.
Ted held his home congregation responsible for his peace
stance, accountable in a positive way. He rejoiced that
Manchester College further nurtured this stance, quoting one of
his teachers, T. Wayne Rieman, in proclaiming, "Life is great,
yea!"

   Legacy. Ted Studebaker's legacy is multifaceted, but foremost
it is affirmation of life in the midst of turmoil. It is Christian
discipleship that risks, even welcomes, confrontation, and engages in it
lovingly. It is going to war with a guitar, not a gun.

   What a memory for the church to celebrate and cherish, and by
which to be encouraged and empowered.
--Howard Royer

Howard Royer visited Ted Studebaker in Vietnam a few months
before the assault on Di Linh. He also attended Ted's memorial
service in Ohio. AGENDA APRIL 1996