Elizabeth taught those eleven years, ten of them at the new Orange Ridge School. The pastor who followed me led in dividing the church and building an independent congregation. He later failed morally and left the state. It took Bradenton Emmanuel Church a full ten years to recover from his defection, in both attendance and finances.

I overlooked one important event in those years. I was planning to celebrate my 25th year of ordination on September 6th, 1959. On the First of the month my brother Bland called me to say that Dad had died. He was in his 79th year. I had my first commercial air flight back to W. Va. for his funeral.

In 1968, the year the E. U. B. Church united with the Methodists, I asked for and received a smaller assignment. The visitation load was too much for my advancing years. I was sent to St. Andrews Church, Winter Park for my last three years before retirement. While there, we led in the construction of four new classrooms for our growing Sunday School. When me moved there, there were only eight houses in sight of the church. The first year we were there, 550 new apartments were built across the street from us. We had a happy and successful ministry at Winter Park.

I had been Director of Evangelism for the Florida Conference, EUB, and was made Recording Secretary of the Board of Evangelism of the united conferences in 1968. Other conference positions I held were Director of Stewardship, Conference Trustee, Director of Youth Work for the West Virginia Conference five years, a trustee of the conference camp, EvUnBreth Acres, and helped to purchase the site and plan the layout of the grounds.

Since it was former EUB, the former Methodists determined to sell it. This was done in 1982.

Florida Conference granted me three months sabbatical leave (until my 65th birthday) and retirement as of September 30th, 1971, on May 30th we left our Florida Home on Loch Lomond Drive and drove to our home we had purchased in Singers Glen, Virginia, 15 years before. In the 11 years we have been retired, we have made many more improvements on it.

We didn't linger long at Singers Glen, for we had planned for years to go on a retirement trip to the west and northwest. We left on July 3rd, drove 13,000 miles in about 32 states, rode about 1000 miles on ferries and steamers, slept, ate and lived in our Volkswagen camper, saw wonderful scenery, and in all spent less that $1000.

For the next two years, I held several evangelistic meetings, mowed my lawn, raised a large garden, loafed and traveled. Then in 1973, the District Superintendent asked me to take the Mountain Valley Church, about 15 miles from our home, as a retired supply. I accepted for I love to preach God's Word! I was to preach on Sunday mornings only, and visit the sick for $2800 per year. I just couldn't limit myself in that way! I held prayer and Bible study each Wednesday, and visited every home in the community.

When the congregation asked me to return for the second year, I replied that I would if they would build a parsonage so that they could ask for a resident pastor. They had student supply preachers for 25 years. They then agreed to begin to build after they had raised $20,000. This they did in less than a year. They built and paid for an 8-room brick parsonage within two years. Their average attendance is now more than triple that first Sunday I preached there, with attendance as high as 223. Their budget is now more than $23,000 per year.

Rev. Troy R. Brady and wife on the
porch of the Elkins new parsonage, 1950

It was during our pastorate there that we were able to realize a dream of over seven years. We went to the Near East, visiting eight countries. They included Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Italy and Switzerland. We were gone more than three weeks, at a cost of over $3000. We traveled with a group of 28 Mennonites, 4 Baptists, with ourselves being the only United Methodists. To me, our experience at Gordon's Calvary and the adjoining tomb were worth the whole trip! We flew by '747' Jetliner from New York to Athens, Greece.

Since both of our sons live on the east coast of Florida, one at Cocoa and the other at Melbourne, and I have no regular work in the pastorate, we have been spending five months each winter in Florida since 1976. Our son, Marion and his wife, Joy, owns two duplexes, and we rent one of his apartments. We have completely furnished and reconditioned this part-time home in the meantime. We usually are there from about November first to March 31st.In November, 1981, I suffered severe angina pains. An angiogram revealed severe blockage of coronary arteries. On Dec. 18th, I received three bypass artery replacements. I recovered remarkably, thanks to clean living and literally hundreds of people praying for me.

I recently did a survey of my ministry of and found that almost 4500 people had come forward to receive Christ, or to renew their dedication to him, under my preaching. For this I give God all the glory and rejoice in their salvation! I have been pastor of churches in four different conferences and a college president for four years. If the Lord had not found me that night in March 1930 I might be dead, or at least a jailbird by this time. Praise the Lord!

We have purchased two gravesites in Singers Glen, Virginia, cemetery and it is my wish to be buried there, so that if any relatives or friends visit the site they will be able to see to the southeast, the mountains I have always loved.

And so, I bring to an end my memoirs, with some historical and traditional background. I have made few confessions to my many failures and sins, all forgiven by God's grace! My great desire here is to preach the unsearchable riches of the Good News of Christ as many times as possible before the Lord calls me home.

Our plans for the future are simple. If we keep our health we will continue to live as we have in the last five years. If we should not be able to care for our place in Virginia we plan to move to our apartment in Florida and finish out our days there. God's grace is sufficient for me!

P. S. Since my husband wrote his memoirs in 1982 our plans for our latter years have changed. Instead of spending our last days at Singers Glen, or in one of Marion and Joy's apartments, we built a home on the lot in Sharpes, Florida, which we had purchased in 1975. When it became apparent a few years later that we should live nearer our family we sold our home in Virginia and in August of 1989 moved permanently to Florida. We turned the cemetery lots back to the trustees with the request that they be sold and the money given to the United Methodist Church in Singers Glen. (E.T B.)

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Reply from Florida's Governor LeRoy Collins

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