Dad was quite a man. He was born December 26, 1897 and he died December 29, 1963. He was 66 years old. He died in the Carter County Memorial Hospital in Elizabethton, Tennessee. He had lung cancer. He smoked cigarettes, but so did everyone else in those days. The cigarettes probably caused the lung cancer and took him from us much, much too soon.
As I mentioned earlier, he was a religious man. There was seldom a Sunday that you did not find Dad in church. I remember for many years at the Clear Springs Methodist Church, he served as Superintendent of Sunday School. In that position, it was his job to call the church to order each Sunday, announce the songs that would be sung, and every fourth Sunday introduce the minister for his sermon.
Our minister had four churches that he preached at so we only got him every fourth Sunday. I remember, before going to church, someone would always ask, “I there preaching today”?
We didn’t have a church bulletin. Dad would announce the songs that the choir and the congregation were to sing. I can hear him now saying, “Everyone turn to page one hundred and thirty-one and let’s sang ‘In the Sweet By And By’. Mrs. Johnson will play the pi-ano this morning”! Dad always referred to the piano as the “pie-ano” - never the pee-ano. He always embarrassed me by doing that. He would use “sang” instead of “sing”, “ain’t” instead of “isn’t”, and so forth and so on. While that bothered me then, it would be music to my ears today!! Dad would announce all of the church programs, including the meetings of the ladies of the church, the church picnics, and so forth and so on.
He was proud of that old white church that sat in the middle of the community and he devoted many hours, and dollars, to it. He believed in his God, prayed at every meal and at bedtime but did not “preach” to others. He let his actions, his behavior, his demeanor, his way of life be his ministry.
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