Former professional baseball player-turned urban evangelist. Follow this daily blog that chronicles the life and ministry of revivalist preacher William Ashley "Billy" Sunday (1862-1935)
Citation: The South Bend Tribune. Fri, May 02, 1913 ·Page 11
MRS. SUNDAY ARTIST.
Wife of Evangelist Has Done Work in Oils.
Mrs. Sunday is an artist of considerable merit. The evangelist’s wife in years past, has executed scores of oil paintings. Mrs. Sunday studied for several years in Chicago and spent much time at her art work afterwards. Her brother, W. J. Thompson, has a set of seven handsome oil paintings from Mrs. Sunday’s brush, which she presented to him as a wedding present.
The South Bend Tribune. Fri, May 02, 1913 ·Page 11
‘Ma’ Sunday. New York World Pictures. April 8, 1917. Author’s Collection.
INJURIES ARE FATAL TO BILLY SUNDAY’S SON George M. Sunday
By United Press
SAN FRANCISCO—George M. Sunday, 40, son of the evangelist, Billy Sunday, is dead of injuries suffered last week when he fell three stories from a window of his apartment.
He died under anesthetic while four doctors were resetting his fractured jaw. His family, assured he would recover, was not present.
Sunday’s mother said she had a premonition of death. At about the hour he died, she sat at the piano in her son’s apartment and played “Nearer My God to Thee.” A telephone call telling her of his death came as she finished.
Authorities said an inquest would be held Wednesday to decide whether Sunday jumped from the window. It was reported he had quarreled with his wife and mother shortly before he fell. Sunday insisted his fall was an accident.
Cited from: Evansville Press, September 12, 1933: pg 1.
YOUNG SUNDAY DIES OF HURTS Son Of Evangelist Declares Fall Was Accident
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 11 (AP) George M. Sunday, 40, son of Billy Sunday, the evangelist, died here to- night from injuries received in a fall from a window of his fourth-floor apartment Thursday night.
His jaw broken by the fall, Sunday denied in a scribbled note the asser- tion of his wife, the former Mauryne Reichard of Hollywood, that they had quarreled.
“I lost my balance and fell out,” he wrote. “I had no argument, I had not been drinking.”
Mrs. Sunday, who married the evangelist’s son after his divorce from his first wife, told police of a violent scene in which her husband struck her in the eye, broke one of her fingers and then threatened suicide.
Wife Tells of Threats
She quoted him as saying he was “going down and jump in the bay.”
Shortly afterward, she said, she heard groans, rushed to the living room and found he had dropped out of the window.
Sunday suffered fractures of the left leg, both jaws, thigh and knee-cap, severe lacerations of the face and head, and concussion.
Dr. Edgar H. Howell, attending physician, said: “The shock of the mul- tiple fractures and contusions he received caused Mr. Sunday’s death.” Sunday had been reported recovering.
At the bedside were Sunday’s father, who cancelled meetings in Port- land, Ore., to come here, his mother and his wife.
The widow told authorities her hus- band had been ill and worried by financial difficulties recently. She filed a suit for divorce here several months ago, but withdrew it a week later and announced a reconciliation had been completed.
An inquest will be held tomorrow. Mrs. Sunday said funeral services will be held in Los Angeles.
Cited in: The Anderson Herald. Sept 9, 1933: 1.
‘BILLY’ SUNDAY AT SON’S BEDSIDE SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 9.—(AP)—
William A. ‘Billy’ Sunday, evangelist, arrived here today to be with his son, George M. Sunday, who is in a hospital with severe injuries after a 75-foot plunge from the window of his apartment Thursday night.
‘Nothing could keep me from my son at a time like this,’ said the evangelist. He cancelled a revival meeting in Portland, Ore.
Physicians said George Sunday will recover. His wife, the former Mauryne Reichard of Hollywood, said he had suffered a nervous breakdown recently and that his fall occurred after a violent scene in their apartment.
Evansville Courier and Press. 9.10.33: 2
Billy Sunday Reaches Injured Son’s Bedside
SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., Sept. 9.—(AP)—William A. (Billy) Sunday, evangelist, arrived here today to be with his son, George M. Sunday, who is in a hospital suffering severe injuries after a 75-foot plunge from the window of his apartment Thursday night.
“Nothing could keep me from my son at a time like this,” said the evangelist. He canceled a revival meeting in Portland, Ore.
Physicians said George Sunday will recover. His wife, the former Mauryne Reichard of Hollywood, said he had suffered a nervous breakdown recently and that his fall occurred after a violent scene in their apartment.
Her Judgment Determines Many Policies and Helps Evangelist in Work to Save Souls.
Palladium-Item. Tue, May 16, 1922 ·Page 7
TAKES ACTIVE INTEREST
The balance wheel of the Sunday party, they call her.
Born of sturdy Scotch stock, Mrs. William A. Sunday uses all of the solidity and far-seeing qualities of her ancestry in matching the impetuous, quick action of Billy Sunday, and keeping the whole Sunday organization running in perfect trim.
As devoted to her husband as he is to her, she has been with him on most of his travels, and within between revivals and conferences the care of a family of four, and a home at Winona Lake.
‘Nell’s not much on looks,’ Sunday has told his Richmond audience, ‘but she has more horse sense than any other woman that I have ever seen, and every time I go against her judgment I get in bad.’
Energetic Personality
But Sunday’s own picture of her lacks one of her most forceful characteristics, her physical energy.
To follow a man of Sunday’s vitality on a revival campaign, and at the same time to rear four children, and care for a home requires more than ordinary physical endurance. But on top of it all Mrs. Sunday has continued to keep pace that has been set, and now not only takes care of the home at Winona Lake but is a general as the landscape gardener for their home town.
At the present time she is devoting her time to beautifying Winona Lake and keeping the home there in readiness for the week or two that Sunday pays there.
Knows How to Work
When Mrs. Sunday starts out on anything, she usually accomplished it. She has been known to work in the garden, and then go on a long trip herself. She has even been known to work in the garden when no one else could be found to do it.
Work in the garden is one of the diversions of Mrs. Sunday, and she often have found her hard at it, working among the flowers and shrubs that have fallen to her lot, but in the days when Mr. Sunday was a struggling evangelist barely making enough from town to town to pay the expenses of reaching the next place, Mrs. Sunday did all the work at home, cared for the children, and part of the time traveled with him, keeping the children in school at what ever place they were for the time.
The story of the courtship of Billy Sunday and Helen A. Thompson has been told many times, but it never loses its interest.
The two met just after Sunday’s conversion at the prayer meeting of the Jefferson Park Presbyterian church. ‘Nell is a Presbyterian, that is why I am one,’ Sunday said one night at the tabernacle.
Father Objected
Objections to a professional ball player on the part of the elder Thompson for a time made meetings between them difficult, but Mr. Thompson has said that since Sunday’s route to the ball park lay past his house, that Helen wore all the paint off the front porch by sweeping it while he passed.
While Sunday was with the Philadelphia team, Helen married him, and the honeymoon traveling was with the team.
Mrs. Sunday’s father was William Thompson, one of the pioneer manufacturers of Chicago, and was a soldier in the Civil war like Sunday’s father also.
Both of her parents were full Scotch, and she herself was born at Dundee, Illinois.
Cited in: Palladium-Item. Tue, May 09, 1922 ·Page 1
Wife of Evangelist Addresses Women at Two Churches on Sunday
More than 2,500 women heard the gospel message delivered Sunday afternoon at East Main street Friends and the First Methodist Episcopal churches by Mrs. W. A. Sunday. She appealed for an awakening of the church people to their responsibilities and especially for the conviction of Richmond church officials who have turned a deaf ear to the effort now being put forth by Mr. Sunday for the saving of men and women for the Christian life.
“There are not enough preachers in the world to tell God’s messages. The church must have an anxiety for people or sons and daughters will not be born into the Kingdom. The most important thing in the world is to win souls for Jesus Christ.
Sermon and Mrs. Clark.
“It has been said that Harry Monroe was responsible for winning Mr. Sunday to Jesus Christ. He was and he wasn’t. It was the wife of Colonel Clark who put her hand on Mr. Sunday’s shoulder and asked him to be a Christian. It was Harry Monroe’s sermon, Mrs. Clark and God who won my husband to Him.
“I can’t understand why the elders and officers of the churches shouldn’t come to the tabernacle and help raise the standard of the church of God. If some of us would make a confession in our own homes maybe we could lead some of our children to Christ. Don’t you think your boys and girls aren’t watching you. Regardless of whether they say anything or not they know what you are doing and if you need to make a public confession of your sins, you should do it. If you do a definite thing at a definite time for Jesus Christ, He will bless you.
“If your religion amounts to the time you spend in church or at prayer meeting, it isn’t the Christianity God intended you should have.”
One of 57 Children.
Mrs. Sunday said she was one of 57 children who decided to live the Christian life, her decision taking place when she was 12 years of age. She stated that, at the age of 15 years, she was asked to teach a Sunday school class in the Third Presbyterian church at Chicago. This she did for three years. At the age of 18 years, while attending a revival service at the church, she was convicted of the necessity for leading someone to live the better life. Her success in leading her Sunday school class to Christ was successful, she stated, however, saying there was one girl she did not reach. After 30 years she met that person in Detroit and was instrumental in directing her on the right pathway. Mrs. Sunday now wears a handsome wrist watch given her by that woman, as an expression of her friend’s gratitude.
The singing at the East Main street service was in charge of Mrs. Virginia Asher with Mrs. A. H. Backus at the piano. Miss Florence Kinney held the crowd at the First Methodist church by the gospel message which she delivered. The singing was conducted by Mrs. Lloyd E. Harter.
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 09, 1922 ·Page 6
Evangelist Billy Sunday (1862-1935) 