Elaine Huddleston Mustain

Elaine Huddleston Mustain of Urbana died October 19, 2018 from complications of Alzheimer's. Elaine was born August 14, 1946, in Washington, DC to Evelyn Williams Huddleston and James Clifford "Cliff" Huddleston, a naval officer. The family lived in Newport RI, the Philippines, Boston, Colorado Springs, and finally Nashville TN. She graduated from David Lipscomb High School. In 1968 she graduated from Harding College, majoring in violin performance. She began a master's program at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Midway through that school year, she transferred to Harvard Divinity School, quickly becoming one of the top students and being awarded a Hopkins Share honor scholarship. Majoring in New Testament, Elaine received her MDiv in 1971 and a ThM in 1972. In June 1969, Elaine married Brian Clark Mustain, originally from Dallas. After leaving Harvard they spent two years in Dallas, where in 1973-74 Elaine taught religion at Ursuline Academy. For the academic years 1974-76, Elaine and Brian lived in Princeton, New Jersey. Elaine was secretary to the Department of Religion at Princeton University (the department chairman called her "the moral center of the department") while Brian studied agronomy at Rutgers. They moved to Bryan-College Station, TX in 1976, where Brian pursued a PhD in plant genetics. Their first child, Andrea, was born in October 1976. Elaine did freelance copyediting, mostly for profs at Texas A&M. She gave birth to Nathan in July 1979. In 1980 the family moved to Lake Crystal MN, where son Patrick was born in July 1981; then to Lincoln IL in December 1981; and finally to Urbana IL in 1983. Third son Stefan was born in August 1983, and second daughter Adrian in September 1986. During all their married life, the family remained part of Fellowship of the Way of Christ and considered that group their spiritual home. They also were part of New Covenant Fellowship, Champaign, where Elaine preached on a number of occasions and for several years she taught high school or adult Sunday school classes. Elaine spent 15 years as a developmental editor at Human Kinetics Publishers in Champaign, specializing in technical and scientific texts. Elaine's passion was scholarly study of the New Testament. After leaving Human Kinetics, she devoted her time to research, writing, and teaching on New Testament topics-especially the book of Romans. Before she became ill, for several years Elaine was working on a book focusing on nuanced understandings of the Greek text that in some ways challenge traditional views; she believed scripture presents a much more all-encompassing view of God's love and grace than most Christian traditions embrace. Her writings eventually will appear on the website BreakingAndEntering.org (not yet active). Elaine's older brother David died in 2014, leaving behind his wife, Carolyn, of Missoula, MT. She is survived by her husband Brian; daughter Andrea, of Brooklyn NY; son Nathan and his wife Beth Lownik and their daughter Evelyn, of Baraboo WI; son Patrick, of Washington, DC; son Stefan and his wife Elizabeth, of Chicago; daughter Adrian, of Los Angeles; sister Julie Huddleston Ashton and her husband Tim, of Baton Rouge; and brother Mark Huddleston and his wife Jacqueline, of Powell River, BC. Elaine's family wants to express deep thanksgiving to the staff at Bickford Senior Living for the love and care they have shown to her during the past year and a half, as well as to the friends who faithfully visited her. Memorial service will be at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 1, 2018 at New Covenant Fellowship, 124 West White Street, Champaign IL.