Gene Edward Tuel

Funeral services for Gene Edward Tuel, 75, Lawrence, will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 27, 2022, at River City Church in Lawrence, KS. The family will greet friends from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. on Friday, August 26, 2022, at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence, KS. Gene passed away on Thursday, August 18, 2022, at his home.
He was born on July 6, 1947, in Monticello, Iowa, to the late Arvil and Eunice Tuel. The family lived in Scotch Grove, Iowa, until 1952. Gene grew up in Monticello, Iowa, with two older sisters and two younger brothers.

As he approached high school graduation, he figured he would be in the grocery business, having worked in a local store as part of a business club. But he had displayed proficiency in various art forms, and his instructor arranged for him to display his works at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) in Cedar Falls. As a result, he won a full tuition scholarship.

As a freshman at UNI in 1966, he committed his life to Christ because of his contact with young men from the Navigators, an international Christian ministry organization, and he began to minister to students. He earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with an emphasis in arts and industrial arts from UNI in 1970.

He spent his career with the Navigators, retiring in 2017. He trained at the University of Missouri, in Columbia (1970-71), and Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo (1971-72). He then served at Northwest Missouri State University, in Maryville (1972-76); the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln (1976-80); Kansas State University, in Manhattan (1980-81); and, from 1981 until retiring, at the University of Kansas (KU). He was affiliated with KU as a religious student advisor and focused on mentoring international students.

At NWMSU, he met Leellyn Schultz. They married in 1975, raised three children, and celebrated their 47th anniversary on June 21, 2022.

In 1990, he earned a master’s degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from KU, and soon began collaborating with Resource Exchange International to offer English language instruction in Vietnam. For about 20 years beginning in the early 1990s, he led teams of college students on 6-week summertime trips to Vietnam.

The onset of a rare genetically inherited disease forced him to discontinue the Vietnam trips. He participated in the first human clinical trials in the U.S. for a drug designed to combat the disease, and he believed that the drug extended his life as he fought the illness for more than a dozen years.

A deeply committed and self-taught theologian, apologist, and evangelist who knew the Bible inside and out, Gene also believed that any truth could be explained on a single sheet of paper.

Balancing his introspective, academic nature, he also loved to be outdoors, to travel and explore, play various musical instruments, and more. The comedic songs he learned as a young man in a hillbilly band carried over into his parenting, where he would pull out an autoharp or guitar to deliver the punchlines (“Well, I can’t get off of my horse / All day and night, I ride upon my saddle / I can’t get off of my horse / Because some low-down, dirty dog / Put glue on my saddle”).

After reaching his 75th birthday, Gene was ready to go home to heaven.

Survivors include his wife, Leellyn, of Lawrence; a daughter and son-in-law, Megan and Nathan Colburn, and five granddaughters, of Three Rivers, Michigan; a son and daughter-in-law, Jesse and Stacy, and a granddaughter and grandson, of Christiansburg, Virginia; and a son, Brian, of Lawrence; a sister, Juanita; a brother, Clarence; and a brother, Dennis.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a sister, Bev; and a brother, James.

Memorial donations may be made to Resource Exchange International or River City Church.