Soper, Francis Arlo (1918–2012)

Francis Soper was a noted editor, especially of the temperance periodical Listen.

He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 19, 1918, to George and Inez Mattson Soper. He had an older sister named Alice, born 1916.¹ When Francis was only three years old his mother died prematurely.² In 1925 his father, a Seventh-day Adventist minister, married Maggie Mabel McCoy and together George and Maggie raised the two children.³

Having a church pastor for a father meant that Francis moved to a number of different locations in his early childhood. These places included Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Clovis, New Mexico; and Boise, Idaho. He attended Walla Walla Academy in Washington, 1932 through 1936. It was there as a 16-year-old that he was baptized. Francis advanced to Walla Walla College, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1940. Then he proceeded to Pacific Union College for a further two years study. He married Eunice Floy Butterfield on September 10, 1942, at College Place, Washington.⁴

In 1942 Francis began as a copy editor with the Pacific Press Publishing Association in Mountain View, California. He rose to be head of the proof room, 1945 through 1948. During the years 1948 through 1951 he was assistant editor of Signs of the Times, Present Truth and the children’s magazine Our Little Friend.⁵ Soper was concurrently assistant pastor, then pastor of the Sunnyvale, California church, 1942-1951. At the 1951 Central California Conference camp meeting held in Santa Cruz he was ordained by Elders Roy Baker, Clifford Bauer and Scott Donaldson.⁶

Soper transferred east to the Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D.C., in 1951 in order to be associate editor of Listen magazine, a periodical dedicated to alcohol and drug abuse prevention, especially among young people. He became its chief editor in 1953 and at the same time became an associate secretary of the Temperance Department at the General Conference.⁷ These roles often took him out of the editorial chair to interview celebrities for his magazine. His work also required much sifting of scientific journals for credible articles for inclusion in its pages. And he was involved in promotional tours to increase subscriptions for Listen. He worked in this capacity until his retirement in 1984, becoming the longest-serving editor of Listen. He stamped his mark on the periodical, incorporating attractive features appealing to youth and moving with the times with respect to design and layout, advertising and color-printing.⁸

During their time in Washington, D.C., Eunice published a number of children’s books, including Pets and Pranks (1958),⁹ The Mannerly Twins (1964),¹⁰ God is My Friend (1965)¹¹ and Red Wagons and Billy Goats (1968).¹² She and Francis had no children of their own. They adopted two girls, Lois E. (b. 1958) and Lori Esther (1961-2007).¹³

Francis and Eunice Soper both lived into their 90s. They retired west of Washington, D.C., at New Market, Virginia, near the Shenandoah National Park. Sadly, daughter Lori suffered a fatal ruptured aneurysm in 2007.¹⁴ Eunice passed away on April 14, 2009, followed by Francis on January 17, 2012. Francis and Eunice rest alongside each other in the Beahm’s Chapel Cemetery at Luray, Virginia.¹⁵

Sources

“Eunice Floy Butterfield Soper.” Find A Grave. Memorial ID 36232481, April 23, 2009. Accessed May 23, 2022. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36232481/eunice-floy-soper.

“Francis Arlo Soper.” Find A Grave. Memorial ID 84022083, January 26, 2012. Accessed May 23, 2022. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84022083/francis-arlo-soper.

Francis A. Soper Biographical Information Forms. Secretariat Missionary Files, RG 21, Record 114945. General Conference Office of Seventh-day Adventists Archives. Silver Spring, MD (GCA).

“George Roy Soper.” FamilySearch. Accessed May 23, 2022. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/MWWC-7F2

“Inez Cristelle Mattson Soper obituary.” Southwestern Union Record, March 21, 1922.

“Lori E. Soper obituary.” Columbia Union Visitor, March 2008.

Oliver, Ansel. “Soper, Temperance Advocate, Listen Editor, Passes Away.” ARH, March 15, 2012.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbooks. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Online Archives (GCA). https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Yearbooks/Forms/AllItems.aspx.

Notes

1. “Francis Arlo Soper,” Find A Grave, Memorial ID 84022083, January 26, 2012, accessed May 23, 2022, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84022083/francis-arlo-soper.↩

2. “Inez Christelle (Mattson) Soper,” Southwestern Union Record, March 21, 1922, 4.↩

3. “George Roy Soper,” FamilySearch, accessed May 23, 2022, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/MWWC-7F2.↩

4. Francis A. Soper Biographical Information Blank, March 5, 1968, Secretariat Missionary Files, RG 21, Record 114945, GCA.↩

5. “Pacific Press Publishing Association,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook for 1950, 329-331.↩

6. Francis A. Soper Biographical Information Blanks, September 16, 1954 and March 5, 1968, Secretariat Missionary Files, RG 21, Record 114945. GCA↩

7. Francis A. Soper Biographical Information Blank, March 5, 1968, Secretariat Missionary Files, RG 21, Record 114945, GCA.↩

8. Milton Hook, “Listen (1948–2011),” Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, June 13, 2022, accessed July 7, 2022, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DJIJ.↩

9. Advertisement, ARH, January 1, 1959, 28.↩

10. Advertisement, ARH, April 22, 1965, 32.↩

11. Advertisement, ARH, January 20, 1966, 29.↩

12. Advertisement, ARH, October 10, 1968, 28.↩

13. “Eunice Floy Butterfield Soper,” Find A Grave, Memorial ID 36232481, April 23, 2009, accessed May 23, 2022, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36232481/eunice-floy-soper.↩

14. “Lori E. Soper obituary,” Columbia Union Visitor, March 2008, 54.↩

15. “Francis Arlo Soper,” Find A Grave.↩