Roger Clark Baxter loved the Lord, and he wanted everyone to know it.
That's why, in 2000, he legally changed his name to Christian Glory Hallelujah.
Not satisfied that it adequately expressed his passion, he changed his name again, to Hallelu Yah! — emphasis on Yah! complete with exclamation point — to drive home his enthusiasm for Jesus. It was a devotion he enjoyed sharing with children through Bible study and after-school Christian programs.
On Christmas Day, Hallelu Yah!'s faith was rewarded. After nearly a lifetime of suffering in a broken body, his spirit went home to God. He was 69.
The former Roger Baxter was born and raised in upstate New York. He served a stint in the Army and traveled the country. For a while he was homeless, but details of his life before he arrived in Tucson in 1983 are vague, local friends and acquaintances said.
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Jon Habegger, director of the Pima County chapter of the Child Evangelism Fellowship of Arizona, met Hallelu Yah! at a fellowship function in the mid-1990s, before his name change. Hallelu Yah! joined the organization a few years later as an on-site caretaker and a member of a team-teaching program to evangelize boys and girls.
"It took him a while to get his level of vocabulary down to the children's level," Habegger said. "He memorized a lot of the Bible, and that was good, but he'd dump the whole truckload on a 5- or 6-year-old and we had to work with him to bring it down to their level."
Hallelu Yah! had severe asthma, which required steroid-based medication and breathing treatments multiple times daily. It was a regimen that sometimes made him moody, Habegger said. A few years ago, ongoing ailments resulted in both of his legs being amputated. But the children kept him going.
"He had a good heart, and he tried to help people, especially kids, but he was different," Habegger said.
Lynnette Puderbaugh met Hallelu Yah! around 2002 when they were part of Awana International — an organization that teaches Scripture to children — at Christ Community Church. Hallelu Yah! worked with children in kindergarten through second grade.
"He was eccentric. After he came to know the Lord, he didn't want money, he didn't want any extra things. He gave his money away, mostly to Christian organizations, and he just had the bare bones. His whole life was about evangelism," Puderbaugh said.
"He was completely dedicated to the Lord. He knew Bible verses like you wouldn't believe. He was a real character. He wasn't perfect, that's for sure, but he loved those little kids … and the kids loved him back," Puderbaugh said. "He was an odd little fellow, but the kids really liked him a lot. He would send kids postcards in the mail. He'd write in his little, scribbly handwriting and fill the back of the postcard."
Moriah Newhouse, 12, was the recipient of many notes from Hallelu Yah!
"He always gave us postcards. His handwriting, it was shaky and it was very small because he was trying to write a lot on the postcards, so it took forever to read, and he always put a Bible verse at the end," Moriah said.
Her mother, Kim Newhouse, met Hallelu Yah! a decade ago through Awana.
The attention-loving, self-proclaimed "prayer warrior" wanted to communicate his beliefs to everyone he met, Newhouse said. "All he was about was Jesus," she said. "He got real on-fire for the Lord."
When Newhouse met him, Hallelu Yah! had long hair and a long beard, "kind of hippie- like," she said. But when one of the children in his Scripture class told him he would look better with short hair, Hallelu Yah! got a buzz cut.
"He didn't want anything to hinder his reaching the children," Newhouse said.
Elizabeth Phillips, 10, took Hallelu Yah!'s message to heart.
"I learned how to be a believer, and, honestly, he really influenced me to become a Christian," said Elizabeth, whose family now resides in Texas. "Just the way he praised God, he was so devoted through everything he was going through, like his amputations. There was not one blaspheme, one complaint that I heard."
Mary Beth Pribanic, the office manager at Christ Community Church, was its director of children's ministries when Hallelu Yah! taught there, sharing Bible stories and songs with the children.
"He was a very small man, and it is just amazing he lived as long as he did because he had a lot of physical problems," she said.
Even the amputation of his legs didn't rein in Hallelu Yah!
"That really didn't slow him down a whole lot," Pribanic said. "He should have been dead, but he kept going. He'd use his wheelchair and just go down Speedway and catch a bus."
Hallelu Yah!'s activism didn't end with Bible study. He traveled to Nogales with other Christian men to hand out Bibles; he protested outside Planned Parenthood; and he proselytized on the University of Arizona Mall. On occasion, those activities landed him in jail, but nothing dampened his enthusiasm for the message he was compelled to share.
By January 2006, though, his ill health overpowered him. After a bout of pneumonia landed Hallelu Yah! in the hospital, his physical condition deteriorated. He could no longer live alone, and he moved into an assisted-living facility, Habegger said.
Despite his struggles, Hallelu Yah! remained dedicated to his faith — and those who knew him won't soon forget his Job-like devotion.
"He was definitely one of a kind," Pribanic said. "Anybody who would legally change their name, that's true dedication with a little bit of character thrown in."
On StarNet: Did you know Hallelu Yah! — formerly Roger Baxter? Add your remembrance online at azstarnet.com/lifestories
LIFE STORIES
This feature chronicles the lives of recently deceased Tucsonans. Some were well-known across the community. Others had an impact on a smaller sphere of friends, family and acquaintances. Many of these people led interesting — and sometimes extraordinary — lives with little or no fanfare. Now you'll hear their stories. Past "Life Stories" are online at go.azstarnet.com/lifestories