Portrait of June Pike. IMB Photo
June Pike, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Brazil, Angola and South Africa, died July 30, 2025. She was 96.
June was born June 27, 1929, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, to the late Eugene Willard Summers and Jennie June Winston Summers. She graduated from Texarkana (Texas) High School, and received the Bachelor of Arts from Ouachita Baptist College, Arkadelphia, Arkansas. She later received a master’s degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisiana, and a doctorate from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri.
She came to saving faith in Christ at 8 years old and recalled growing up in church, where her mother helped organize all the missionary programs “so that her girls would have missionary training.” When her father died in 1940, June and her mother moved to Texas to live near family. She remembered happy high school years, as well as her first date with Harrison Pike, who would become her husband. After graduation, June attended school in Arkansas, where she became involved in the busy life of the college campus and worked in the college library.
On Sept. 1, 1947, Harrison and June were married. After receiving her degree from Ouachita, June began the first of several teaching positions while Harrison went to seminary. After Harrison’s graduation, he was called as pastor of First Baptist Church in Oden, Arkansas, where, June wrote, they “enjoyed the mountains, the evergreen forests, the rivers, and natural beauty God gave this section.”
While seeking missionary appointment June wrote, “As far as we are concerned we would enjoy living here the rest of our lives, but when we read of missions, hear a missionary speak, or see a mission film, we know that we could never be completely satisfied with ourselves unless we give Him our lives to use wherever He needs us most.”
In 1956, the International Mission Board appointed Harrison and June missionaries to Brazil. Together, they served in evangelistic and administrative work, biblical and theological teaching, and planting churches. June also served as president of a girl’s orphanage in Brazil for eight years. Later, they also served in Angola and South Africa before returning to Brazil.
June was preceded in death by her husband of 73 years, Harrison Pike, and a great-granddaughter, Hope Brown.
She is survived by her three children, Donna Brown (Kenneth Lynn) and David Pike, both of Bella Vista, Arkansas, and Daniel Pike of Alexandria, Virginia; eight grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
A funeral service was held Aug. 23 at Village Baptist Church in Bella Vista, Arkansas.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Lottie Moon Offering, IMB, 3806 Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA 23230, or online at Generosity Resource Center – IMB Generosity.
Read an obituary here.