Margaret Sue Tucker, 1933-2021
Margaret Sue “Meg” Tucker, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel among American Affinity Peoples in Venezuela, Western South America, Canada and through El Paso (Texas) Baptist Publications and among the European peoples in Russia and Latvia died June 16, 2021. She was 87.
According to her family, Tucker died “after a lifetime that took her from the cotton fields of Tahoka, Texas — where she proudly learned to drive a tractor at the age of 10 — to homes in seven countries, before finally settling in Boerne, Texas.”
Tucker was born Dec. 29, 1933, in Anson, Texas, to the late John A. and Rhoda Roberts. She received the Bachelor of Arts from Baylor University, Waco, Texas. She met and married Robert Tucker Jr. in 1955.
Meg worked briefly as a teacher in Fort Worth while Bob attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and then, said her family, dedicated her life to support his role as church pastor and missionary.
The Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) appointed the Tuckers missionaries in 1962, and they moved to Venezuela to work with churches and the Seminario Teologico Bautista. In 1977, Meg joined Bob in service to all Southern Baptist missionaries across seven countries of Western South America. She continued in her role as his executive assistant when he became president of the Spanish Baptist Publishing House in El Paso, Texas.
Next the Tuckers soon found themselves working alongside Canadian Southern Baptists in the founding of their new theological seminary in Alberta, Canada. Four years later, Meg and Bob moved to Moscow, Russia, to assist Baptist churches in transitioning out what of the former Soviet Union. Yet two years later, Meg carried her skills to Latvia where the couple became a pastoral and administrative resource for Southern Baptist missionaries in the Baltic States.
Upon retirement, the Tuckers moved back to Athens, Texas, where they served both English-speaking single adults and Hispanic pastors. A final move in 2007 found the couple settling with family in Boerne and working with Primera Iglesia Baustista before becoming members at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church. Meg served a term as chapter president of the Bandera Kiwanis International, promoting the Rewards for Reading program among elementary school children. She also served several years on the board of St. Mark’s Early Learning Center.
According to her family, Meg enjoyed sewing and quilting, donating countless blankets to Project Linus. She spent much of her life at the keys of church pianos (some well-tuned and some less so).
Meg was preceded in death by her daughter Sherilyn, son Mark, and her husband of almost 64 years, Bob. She is survived by daughter Elaine (David) of Boerne; daughter Karen (David) of Madison, Alabama; son John of Cleburne, Texas; and son Phil (Kristina) of Houston, Texas. She also leaves 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Donations in her memory may be made to assist people in crisis in Venezuela through the International Mission Board. To do this, visit imb.org and click on “Give Now.” Gift designation is “Missionary,” and missionary name is “Elizabeth Leininger.”
Read an obituary here.