Alumni Christian Service Award – James “Bud” Tysinger

Houghton University’s Alumni Christian Service Award is presented to those who have held to the ideals of the Christian faith and who have made a significant impact for the Lord through self-sacrifice to the Church, their communities, and/or their professions.

Self-sacrificing is a truly apt description for one of this year’s recipients. It’s a story that begins at Houghton Academy, barrels down the Houghton College football field, flourishes in Sierra Leone, and continues to impact the lives—and vision—of people from California to Mexico to Zambia and beyond.

James “Bud” Tysinger, a member of the Class of 1965, was a multi-sport athlete at Houghton during the Purple and Gold era, demonstrating abilities in football, basketball, and track and field. In October 1963, the Houghton STAR reported the following about Bud: “He has a way of holding a team together under any conditions.” This particular characteristic would no doubt play an important part in his life as a medical missionary, business owner, and founder of a charitable organization.

At Houghton, Bud didn’t just lead on the sports pitch. He served in student body leadership for all four of his years on campus, as class president in both his freshman and sophomore years, as study body chaplain his junior year, and as student body president in his senior year. Sometime between his roles in student government and his competition in the sports arena, Bud found time to complete a degree in zoology.

After completing medical school at the Medical College of South Carolina, Bud took a trip that became a turning point in his life. In 1970, Bud joined a medical missions team on a trip to Sierra Leone living nearly three years there with his family working as a doctor at the hospital founded by the Wesleyan Church in Kamakwie. On that trip, Bud worked alongside an ophthalmologist providing vision care. He developed a passion for serving people in developing countries and saw ophthalmology, particularly cataract surgery, as an ideal way to serve, while also maintaining a home and practice in the United States. He pursued eye training at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, and additional training at University of California, San Francisco.

For over 20 years, Bud embarked on medical missions trips to Sierra Lone as well as rural Mexico, providing vision care to those who otherwise would have no access to it. In 1994, civil unrest brought an end to his work in Sierra Leone, but that year, Bud partnered with fellow doctors to create the nonprofit International Vision Volunteers, which is dedicated to bringing sight and eye care to underserved communities.

Beginning in 1995, through International Vision Volunteers, Bud took his medical missions work to Zambia in south central Africa, opening an eye hospital—Zimba Mission Hospital—in 2001. Today, the hospital is staffed by five teams of care providers, each serving two weeks annually.

Bud’s son, James Tysinger III, Houghton Class of 1988, remarked, “I have no idea how many doctors, nurses, dentists, optometrists and other professionals have gone to serve in Mexico, Sierra Leone and Zambia that might never have done so had my dad not made the effort to invite them to serve.”

In the challenging conditions medical missionaries face in remote, rural and impoverished communities, Bud retained and employed the characteristics of that young fellow on the Houghton football field who could hold a team together under any circumstances.

Bud’s nephew, Dr. Jonathan Vogan, Houghton Class of 1985, was one of those professionals attracted to medical missionary work and had the opportunity to work alongside Bud in Sierra Leone. “God used conversations with my Uncle Bud about serving God in the medical profession. My uncle’s life in Christian service was powerfully used by God to direct my own service to God in the medical profession, including many medical mission trips.”

Today, some patients travel hundreds of miles to the Zambian clinic from neighboring Botswana and Zimbabwe. Hundreds of surgeries are performed annually, and thousands of patients receive care. The clinic also provides training for ophthalmology residents, clinical officers and nurses in eye care, some of whom go on to continue to serve with International Vision Volunteers.

Bud’s commitment to providing exceptional vision care isn’t limited to his international patients. In 1979, Bud founded a California Eye Clinic in Antioch, California, where he used his gifts and abilities to provide patient-centered care to his community. He provided vision care throughout his region until retiring in 2002. Today, California Eye Clinic has five locations with two ophthalmologists and five optometrists.

“His heart was to serve,” noted James, who is with us this evening to surprise his father. “He supported many missionaries and sponsored and supported students from Africa to get the education they needed to go back and serve others in their home countries. As his son, I was privy to many acts of service and sacrifice that were never public.”

As the son of a pastor and a teacher, with a family legacy of ministry, education and missionary work, Bud followed the examples set before him.  When asked why he wanted to serve as a missionary, he replied “I just felt called to serve with the gifts I’ve been given.”

In recognition of nearly 50 years of service and sacrifice, for the thousands of lives impacted by vision care, and for his tireless dedication to Kingdom work in some of the world’s neediest places, it is my privilege to present James “Bud” Tysinger with Houghton University’s Alumni Christian Service Award.