A service of witness to the resurrection in loving memory of Mrs. June Francis Soud, cherished wife of the Rev. Dr. Eugene S. Soud, will be held at the Holmes Presbyterian Church, Cheriton, at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 6, 2024. A reception will follow at the church, where Dr. Soud is Pastor Emeritus.
June Soud was born in 1936, in Bristol, Tenn. to Stella Francis. She never knew her father. Educated in the Bristol Public Schools, she was recognized early as a precocious child; advanced a grade ahead of her peers, the teacher dismissed her from class after lunch because her reading skills were so far ahead of her classmates.
After graduation, she attended Virginia Intermont College in Bristol and Tusculum College in Greensville, Tenn., where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She taught for a year in Bristol, then served as a secretary of First Presbyterian Church. In 1959, she entered the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, where she earned her first of three master’s degrees. There she and Gene Soud met and were married on June 7, 1960.
June resumed her teaching career, which she devoted herself to passionately, for most of the rest of her life. She taught everything from fifth grade to junior and senior high, junior college, freshmen at Christopher Newport University, and lifelong learning classes. She herself was a lifelong learner, eventually earning additional degrees from John Hopkins University and the University of Delaware.
She was a devoted homemaker, loved sacred and popular music, sang in the church choirs, and was an avid Democrat. Her laughter was said by some to be like the sound of God and her voice like that of an angel.
Her earthly pilgrimage ended on Dec. 29, 2023, after a courageous battle against extended illness. Loved ones attended her peaceful death.
She is survived by her husband of 63 ½ years and three sons, Stephen, Scott (Erin), and David (Rohini); two grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and two step-grandsons.
Her family acknowledges with deep gratitude the loving care provided by Elite Eldercare the last three months of her life as well as Traditions Hospice for their added care the last several weeks.
