Fill My Cup, Lord

In Memory of Richard E. Blanchard
(March 14, 1925—April 19, 2004)

Richard Blanchard is well known as the writer of the song "Fill My Cup, Lord" (no. 641 in The United Methodist Hymnal). He was born March 14, 1925, in Chungking, China, the son of Methodist missionary parents the Rev. Ralph and Grace Kipka Blanchard. The family returned to the USA and he grew up in Indiana and North Carolina. Richard graduated from Tryon High School in North Carolina in 1943 and worked at a bank in his hometown. He put his income into war bonds, eventually saving enough to buy lakefront property in Orlando, Florida, in 1953.

He enlisted in the US Navy but was medically discharged. He attended Davidson College then Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1947. He married Anne Carlton and they had three children. Following Mercer, Richard attended Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta and earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1949. He was ordained deacon in 1949 and elder in 1950, and transferred from serving his Snellville-Grayson, North Georgia, circuit into the Florida Conference in 1950. As a member of the Florida Conference, Blanchard served First Methodist in Orlando; Wesley in Coral Gables; First Methodist in Fort Lauderdale; Trinity in Miami; Palma Ceja in Tampa; First in Jacksonville; Riviera Beach Methodist and Community Methodist in Holiday; and Conway Methodist in Orlando. He retired in 1988 and became active at First UMC in Orlando. During this time he wrote a musical, Francis of Assisi, which was produced to favorable reviews and attendance.

Blanchard wrote many gospel songs, as well as newspaper columns, stories, fiction, and the official biography of Bishop John Branscomb, for whom the Branscomb Memorial Auditorium in Lakeland, Florida, is named.

In 2000, in seriously declining health, he and his wife moved to Swannanoa to be near children. He lived there until his death on April 19, 2004. He is survived by his wife, Anne Carlton, and two of their children. He is also survived by the many songs that he wrote.

"Fill My Cup, Lord" is Blanchard's best-known song, often sung as a communion song. It appears in many hymnals in both its full form with three stanzas and chorus as well as chorus only. In its complete context, it is not a song for Holy Communion; rather, it refers to the story of the Samaritan woman and Jesus at Jacob's Well (John 4). Of course, in its refrain-only form, it is quite appropriate as a communion song.

"Fill My Cup, Lord" has been recorded by George Beverly Shea, Norma Zimmer, and Anita Bryant, among many others. It has been used as a theme song by Church Women United. His widow, Anne, writes, "Dick received hundreds of bulletins from churches across the country or programs of funerals where 'Fill My Cup, Lord' was sung."

We give thanks for the life, witness, and service of Richard E. Blanchard, for his gifts and graces, and for his legacy as pastor and musician.

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