RUSH LIMBAUGH: A LIFE OF SERVICE TO CITY, COUNTRY

A decade or so ago, a high-ranking resident of Washington, D.C., was visiting relatives in Cape Girardeau. His hosts insisted on taking him to meet Cape's most distinguished citizen, Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr. When the visiting chief of staff to a U.S. senator met the elderly gentleman, who graciously received him at home, Limbaugh inquired as to his guest's hometown. "Oh, you won't know it -- you can't possibly have heard of it," responded the visitor. "I'm from a little town in upstate New York." Limbaugh pressed his visitor for the name. Told the answer, he descended upon his visitor with encyclopedic thoroughness, delivering a detailed rendition of the strategic importance of that town in the Revolutionary War, how it related to the world-decisive Battle of Saratoga, and what this meant in the war for American independence. Awestruck -- having heard facts about his own hometown he didn't know -- the visitor departed, shaking his head in amazement. Longtime friends of Limbaugh will understand the visitor's reaction. Among people who have had the privilege of knowing him these many years, astonishment and amazement long ago became commonplace."Pop," said a certain nationally syndicated radio talk show host to a rare studio guest four and a half years ago, "Who was president the year you were born?" "Benjamin Harrison," came the reply, without a second's hesitation.

When he was a guest on his grandson's national radio show that afternoon in September 1991 on the occasion of his 100th birthday, Limbaugh was rounding out only his first century. He was still going to the office and billing hours as the nation's oldest practicing attorney. That broadcast originated from Kansas City because Limbaugh was there with family to attend the annual meeting of the Missouri Bar Association, of which he and a son were former presidents.

A national treasureOn that centennial, in a firm voice that belied his years, Limbaugh continued, describing to an astonished national audience a boyhood devotion to his first contemporary political hero: Teddy Roosevelt. On in detail Limbaugh went, describing what a heroic figure TR was, how crucial his decisive action in sending the American naval fleet worldwide, what this meant for an America beginning to emerge from 19th century isolation into the first rank of world powers, and why, therefore he, Limbaugh, followed the magnificent TR out of the Republican Party to join the Bull Moose insurgency in the great campaign of 1912. Through a living, breathing history text was an audience of millions introduced to a national treasure whom we here in Missouri, and especially Cape Girardeau, had long valued so highly.

Glowingly, the accolades pour in -- from judges, congressmen, senators, fellow members of the bar, Rotarians, friends far and wide. Family man as brother, husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather. Author of a legal textbook and of numerous articles. Accomplished orator. Leading Methodist layman and Sunday School teacher. Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International. Life emeritus trustee of the Missouri Historical Society and its former president. Patriarch of a family of lawyers and Republicans. Limbaugh was a scholar in the law, in history, in political theory and in the Judeo-Christian tradition of ordered liberty. A scholar of the life of Patrick Henry, from memory he could quote William Makepeace Thackeray and Blackstone and so many others.

In 1985, family and friends packed into a local motel banquet room to honor Limbaugh at a surprise dinner celebration sponsored by local Rotarians. Tributes were read from President Ronald Reagan and from Justice Lewis Powell of the U.S. Supreme Court, long a Limbaugh friend. What stands out in the memory, though, is the address of the guest of honor. Few who were present that night will ever forget the throat-catching sense of excitement he evoked when he arose, without notes, for extemporaneous remarks. In a voice choked with emotion, Limbaugh told his audience that they didn't so much honor him as they did members of his family who, after his father's early death, "went without substance so that I could be the first in the family to leave the farm and go to Cape to the Normal School."The opportunity of educationLimbaugh often spoke of his excitement upon traveling to Cape Girardeau -- a day's ride by horse-drawn wagon -- and glimpsing the spires of the school's main building. Here was a chance at education. From this hilltop, a great world beckoned. Prepare yourself, work hard, make your family proud, and you could accomplish anything. This, after all, is America, and this school, he told an audience at the university's 1973 centennial, is nothing less than "the fulfillment of a great national purpose."How richly he added to this school, this community, this state and this nation. Few, then, there are of whom it can be said, as it can of Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr., "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into my kingdom." Somehow, we all know Limbaugh heard those words this week when the Lord called him home.