Eric Burnham Hare was the second son of Pastor Robert and Henrietta Hare, born in Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, on October 12, 1894. He graduated from the missionary course at Avondale in 1911 and the biblical-academic course in 1913. In the summer of 1911, he began his denominational service as tent master for E. B. Rudge and Harold Lukens in Port Pirie, South Australia. “Brother Rudge and Brother Lukens did the preaching, and I gave the Bible studies,” he said later. “All I had to do was to sweep and dust the tent, distribute the handbills, play the organ, and lead the music.” At the end of 1913, Eric was appointed to work in the Victoria Tasmania Conference and joined J. W. Kent and J. H. Woods conducting a tent evangelistic campaign in Richmond. By June 1914, he was at the Sydney Sanitarium, enrolled in the nursing course. Just one year later, at a special session of the Australasian Union Conference Committee held June 8–22, 1915, he was appointed as a missionary to Burma (now Myanmar). On June 24, Eric married Agnes Fulton, daughter of pioneer missionaries to the South Pacific and Asia, Pastor and Mrs. J. E. Fulton. Agnes had been born in Bishop, California, on November 9, 1893. Before leaving for Burma, Eric continued with his nursing course at the Sydney Sanitarium, and Agnes also took nursing training for three months.

A gifted musician, Eric soon established a brass band, which was a considerable novelty, attracting the interest of the people. He had visited churches across Australia and New Zealand, collecting brass instruments for the band. He used the band to create opportunities for evangelism and community building. Eric and Agnes’ first child, Rosalind Agnes, died on June 23, 1917, just 19 days after birth, and was buried in Rangoon, Burma. Shortly afterward, they were visited by Agnes’ parents and their daughter Jesse. Fulton was at that time the president of the Southern Asia Division. The Hares were located on the Salween River at Kamamaung in northeastern Burma, near the border with Siam (Thailand). Fulton described the isolation of the mission station, “The thick jungle abounds in wild animals. Last night we could hear the monkeys in one part and the little barking deer in another. Every night fires are kept burning in the shed or the mission bullock-pen to keep the tigers away. Tiger tracks are sometimes seen right through the mission ground, and even under the house.” The early years in Burma were difficult. The division secretary-treasurer, C. L. Torrey, wrote after visiting the mission station in The couple left Sydney on Thursday, September 23, 1915. After they arrived in Burma, their first two years were taken up with language study and the beginnings of their health work. Eric and Agnes proved to have an aptitude for language, both receiving more than 90 percent in their Karen examinations. In fact, the examiner told Eric that he had received the highest marks of any missionary he had ever examined.

1934, “Brother Hare reviewed to us the early beginnings of his work, and recalled how discouraged he became during the first three years of his labours at Kamamaung and in the outlying districts, struggling along during this time without a single baptism. He baptised his first convert the following year. After that, the number increased year by year.” In 1919, at the division meeting in Ranchi, India, Eric was ordained to the gospel ministry. Taking part in the service was his father-in-law, Pastor Fulton, still president of the Southern Asia Division. Their continuing service saw Pastor and Mrs. Hare using the training they had received at the Sydney Sanitarium. Along with Harold and Dorothy Baird, they established several dispensaries serving the Karen people. Four more children were born into the Hare family while they were in Burma: Eileen Nita, Leonard, Verna Mae, and Peter. Eric and Agnes and their children continued their outreach to the Karen until 1934, when, after more than 18 years, they were invited to relocate to the Northern California Conference in the United States, where Pastor Hare was appointed as the Missionary Volunteer and Sabbath School secretary. The transfer provided a much-needed opportunity for their youngest daughter, Verna Mae, to receive assistance for her severe hearing deficiency. They departed from Burma on April 12, 1934, leaving behind an established church with a membership of 122 and eight Sabbath Schools with a membership of 340. After some years in San Francisco, Pastor Hare was appointed as the Sabbath School secretary of the Southern California Conference in Glendale, California, a position he held for a short time before accepting an invitation to return to Burma in 1941. There, the Hares continued their pioneering work for the Karen people, this time in Rangoon, until the Japanese bombing in 1942 forced their evacuation. Having been evacuated to India by steamer from Burma, Agnes and the children waited there for Pastor Hare’s evacuation. During this time Pastor Hare and several fellow workers made a hazardous overland journey to safety.

After many dangers and miraculous escapes, he was finally reunited with his wife and children, and the family returned to America. Back in America, Pastor Hare was called to head the Youth Department of the Southern California Conference and then the Sabbath School Department at the Pacific Union Conference. Then in 1946, at the General Conference session, he was called to serve as an associate secretary of the Sabbath School Department at the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Shortly after Pastor Hare took this appointment, Eileen, their eldest daughter, died in a road accident in Van Horne, Texas. She and her family were on furlough from their appointment in India when the accident occurred. While holding his responsibilities at the General Conference, Pastor Hare gave specific attention to the role of the Sabbath School in child development and spirituality. His work was a forerunner of the Children’s Ministries Department. Pastor Hare continued his work at the General Conference until his retirement in 1962. He passed away in Washington, D.C., on June 1, 1982. Agnes died on April 25, 1983, in Berrien Springs, Michigan.

Well-known worldwide for his remarkable ability to tell character-building stories, Eric B. Hare authored 13 books and wrote and recorded hundreds of articles and stories for children. Through his stories, generations learned about mission service, faith, and sacrifice.

For citations, please see the original article at encyclopedia. adventist.org/article?id=D7WZ&highlight=Eric|b|hare