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Luke and Ruth Boughter

When Luke Boughter arrived in Houghton in 1946, he was a young WWII veteran with a gift for aviation and interests in Bible and theology. With a farm field as an airstrip and an old ambulance plane as his classroom, Boughter taught Houghton classmates how to fly.

Stephen Paine, then president of Houghton College, knew of these adventures in the sky and saw potential in the young pilot. So Paine challenged Boughter to start a missions group on campus that would unite students of all denominations. Soon after, Boughter attended an InterVarsity Missions Conference in Toronto and returned with the tools to form a Foreign Missions Fellowship at Houghton. By 1949, the Fellowship included hundreds of students who prayed daily for the nations of the world, and the ministry of that group–in the form of the Global Christian Fellowship–continues today.

Luke's Story

Luke Boughter ’49 first heard about Houghton, N.Y. from a friend who spoke highly of the education he received at Houghton College. Boughter was so impressed by his friend’s recommendation that as a high-school junior, he changed his academic load to prepare for higher education.

Before Boughter began his college career, however, he volunteered as an aviation cadet for the United States Navy and entered the throes of the Second World War flying a dive bomber airplane. For 2 ½ years he served in the Navy, and in 1946 he at last journeyed to western New York.  Dozens of WWII veterans were arriving in Houghton, so after living for a time in the Barnett’s house next to the “Pantry” (snack shop), Boughter moved into a building up on the college farm with 20 other veterans.

Up, Up and Away

While pursuing Bible and Theology studies, Boughter discovered that several of his missions-minded classmates were interested in learning how to fly an airplane. Being a capable pilot and innovative young man, he decided to teach his friends to fly. He and his buddies bought an old ambulance plane for $800 and re-built it, adding new canvas and cables; when the plane was ready, Boughter flew it to Rochester to be officially approved.

Boughter had been using the field of a nearby farmer friend as an airstrip, but he wanted to be able to take off and land in Houghton. With permission from Dr. Luckey, the young pilot acquired a piece of the college farm and thus had only one problem remaining: the airstrip was full of cows. Undeterred, Boughter and his friends collected pieces of wood cast off from the local saw mill – plus wire given to them by Boughter’s father – and built a fence around the strip. Then they hooked a car battery up to the wire, and an electric fence was born.

Unfortunately, the electric fence was less than successful; it seems the cows did not mind the buzz of the wire and rather enjoyed the feeling of getting their noses tickled. When attempting to touchdown, the pilot would have to fly the airplane low over the airstrip to clear out the cows before circling around again for the landing. In bad weather, the airstrip was hardly visible, so Boughter and his buddies white-washed bushel baskets and set them up around the field to mark the place. Then the fun began.

In his time at Houghton, this young pilot taught four of his classmates to fly the airplane, and one, who wanted to be a medical doctor in China, grew quite accomplished in his skills. Boughter and his friends would fly to Binghamton, N.Y., and from there they could hop a train into New York City, where Boughter had occasional training for the U.S. reserves. Eventually the group disbanded, and Boughter later sold the plane to Nyack College. The memories are still vivid, though, and Boughter took several aerial photographs of the Houghton College campus that can be seen today.

To Have and to Hold

Flying an airplane was not Luke Boughter’s only passion while at Houghton College, however. His Religion major required that he take a classical Greek class, and while listening to Dr. Gordon Stockin lecture in those early mornings, Boughter’s attention was drawn to one of his classmates. Her name was Ruth Peyton, and her work as the college nurse in Dr. McMillan’s office brought her to class in uniform each day.

Not long after, Boughter developed a persistent sore throat that required several visits to the doctor’s office. Such visits meant more time with Ruth, and eventually Luke and Ruth began courting. The happy couple were married in 1947 and found a home in “Vetville,” a group of residences that Houghton provided for veterans and their families.

The Challenge

Luke Boughter continued taking Greek classes, and in doing so, he met Dr. Stephen Paine, Greek professor extraordinaire and then President of Houghton College. Boughter began stopping by Dr. Paine’s office – an office, he remembers, that was covered in chalkboards filled with Greek verb conjugations – to talk about Greek, and flying, and life, and missions work. Dr. Paine saw great potential in Boughter, so one day he challenged his young friend to start a missions group on campus that would unite students of all denominations.

In December of 1946, Boughter was the sole Houghton College representative at an Intervarsity Missions Conference (now called Urbana) in Toronto, Canada. He returned with the tools to form a Foreign Missions Fellowship at Houghton, and the time he graduated in 1949, the Fellowship included hundreds of Houghton students who prayed regularly for the nations of the world.

Go Into All the World

Although spring of 1949 signaled the end of Luke and Ruth Boughter’s time at Houghton, their adventures together had only begun. After attending Columbia Bible College for graduate studies, Luke Boughter wanted to find a place of service where he could use his flying expertise. He had kept in contact with representatives from the Evangelical Alliance Mission, an organization he encountered at the Toronto Missions Conference, and for a time it seemed that the couple would be headed to Peru.

That door closed, however, and another in Portugal opened. In 1951, Luke and Ruth made a leap of faith, and for the next 25 years they served as missionaries near Lisbon, Portugal. During that time, they worked as church planters and raised 5 children – one of whom, Mark Boughter, graduated from Houghton in 1968. Throughout the years the Boughters served in Portugal, they received faithful support from the very organization they helped bring to life – the Foreign Missions Fellowship at Houghton College.

Keep in Touch

After a revolution swept Lisbon in 1974, the Boughters were forced to return to the States, and Luke (who earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from Michigan State University in 1966) taught for several years at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, P.A. The Boughters now live in Lebanon, P.A., but they still keep in touch with friends Al and Esther Smith, who reside in Houghton. (Ruth Boughter met Esther Smith while Ruth was a nurse at a hospital in Fillmore, N.Y.) The Smiths keep the Boughters informed of the happenings at Houghton College, because even after fifty-eight years, Luke and Ruth Boughter are still supporting the place where their dreams took flight.