The Rev. Luther C.(Luke) Rule died at 6:03 a.m. today at the Baptist Hospital following a heart seizure Wednesday night just before prayer meeting at his Inskip Baptist Church which he had helped build. Popular Mr. Rule, who was 49, had seemed improved in recent days after a gallant bout with illness for more than two years. He had undergone some five operations, and would joke with friends about "what a Job I've become." But he persisted in his service to his big suburban congregation of 1200 with remarkable little absenteeism. "I've never seen such faith and grace," says his old friend, Lawrence Trivette, missions sperintendent for Knox County Association of Baptists. Mr. Rule, a Shook's Gap native, leaves his wife, Mrs. Bernice Shook Rule; son, Philip, a recent U-T graduate; daughter, Mary Nell, 14 Inskip Elementary School eighth grader; and his elderly Sevier County father, the Rev. Roscoe Rule, who is also a Baptist minister. The Rev. Perry T. Rule, the Vestal Methodist pastor, is an uncle, and three great-grandfathers were preachers. They were the Revs. Claiborne Dunlap and Caleb Rule, Baptist, and Richard Parsons, Methodist. After graduation from Harrison-Chilhowee Institute and other studies, young Rule's successive pulpits were Valley Grove, Prospect, Gist's Creek, Meridian and Inskip Baptist Churches. Gist's is in Sevier and the others in Knox. He launched the building program shortly after accepting the Inskip Baptist pulpit some 17 years ago, and began seeking a new site. With the pastor spear-heading every phase of the campaign, the new brick building went up just across Rowan Rd. from the old church house a dozen years ago. The Sunday School enrollment now exceeds 1000. The Rule home is at107 Naueda Dr., Inskip. Mr. Rule had been active with committees and programs of the county Baptist association and with agencies of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Young people and youth work were especially dear to him. He had also found time to serve as chairman of the County Library Board and as chaplain of the State Highway division here. Services will be held at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Berry chapel, with the Revs. Charles Ausmus and Creed McCoy officiating. Burial will be in Valley Grove Cemetery. The family will receive friends tomorrow night at Berry's.

Published in The Knoxville News-Sentinel.