Reclaimed Memories

roy preached his first sermon at St. Andrews Church in Winter Park on March 10th, using as his subject, "A Well Balanced Church," from the text found in Acts 2:42.


We had a very happy pastorate at this church. The people seemed delighted to have us. Since I was not teaching I went calling with Troy almost every afternoon and learned to know the people well. I always had a sermonette or story for the children each Sunday and the adults seemed to enjoy my participation as much as the children did.

This was the year that we took Robbie north with us. He was ten years old at this time. We left Winter Park on Monday, July 8th, at 4:20 a.m. and drove straight through, arriving in Singers Glen at 9:45 p.m., tired but happy to be again in our own home.

The next day Troy did some mowing and in the afternoon we took Robbie up Feedstone Mountain, as we had the other children when they were with us. The next day the mowing was finished and we started on the remodeling of the living room.

Howard, Grace and Baby Mark came to the Glen on Tuesday, July 16th. Beth stayed with a little friend in Melbourne. Howard helped on the living room ceiling. On the 20th all of us went to Lost River State Park. We started early and cooked our breakfast in the Park, then drove to Moorefield, West Virginia. From there we drove over the Dolly Sods highway to Blackwater Falls. We returned to the Glen by Elkins, where Howard had a short visit with his best childhood boyfriend Jimmy Wilson. I'm sure he was proud to show off his family.

We drove to Gaudineer Knob on the top of Cheat Mountain, between Huttonsville and Dublin, West Virginia. We climbed the fire tower and had a wonderful view of the hundreds of acres of spruce trees massed so closely that the forest was almost impenetrable except for the paths cut from the parking area to the tower and to outdoor rest rooms. We drove back to the Glen by Monterey, Virginia, where we ate our evening meal.

Howard's family went with us to Waynesboro, where Troy preached on Sunday morning, July 21st. We ate at the Holiday Inn with the Habits, then took a drive on the Blueridge Highway on our way back to the Glen. Howard Grace and Mark left the next day. On Wednesday we started for Akron by way of Mt. Lake Park, Maryland, where we had a short visit with the Simpsons; then on to the Smiths, near Morgantown, West Virginia, where we spent the night.

We were in Akron two nights and returned by Bland's in Clarksburg, on Saturday the 27th. We went to church in Junior on the 28th. We visited at Rosalyn's in the afternoon and on back to the Glen that evening.

A. J. and Hazel came on the 30th and stayed three nights. While they were with us A.J. plastered the walls of both bedrooms. They had been over a few days earlier. We had already covered the ceilings in both bedrooms, perhaps two or three years before. McQuain was a retired plaster contractor and he asked what we planned to do with the walls of the bedrooms. We had already bought the plasterboard for one of the rooms, so we told him that was what we planned to use. He said 'Oh, no! You are not going to put plasterboard on those rooms! I am going to come back and plaster them for you. It will not cost you a cent, except for the material.' So that is what he did! The plastering of those two bedroom wails just cost us $25.

Before the McQuains came back for A.J. to do the plastering we prepared the walls by putting on the sheet rock. We later used the wallboard to make a pleasant room in the big attic. All of us went to Elkins on August 2nd and Troy put large rollers on their heavy, hard to move pieces of furniture. This was not the first time we had exchanged skills which had been of benefit to all of us.

We started home from our vacation about noon on the 7th of August, and arrived home the next day about 7:30 p.m. Robbie spent the night with us and Howard picked him up the next day.

We were too tired to think about unpacking the car the day we got home. The next morning Troy went to the church office to get ready for the Sunday services and Robbie went with him. I was unpacking the car in the garage, when the neighbor's two little grandchildren came in and began to talk. The little girl said, "I am five years old."

I said, "That's nice," and looking at the small boy, I asked, "How old are you?" He held up three fingers and I said, "You are three years old." He nodded. I was about to go into the house when the girl asked, "Where's the kid?"

I knew she was referring to Robbie. He had played with them the evening before on the swing-slide set on the parsonage back lawn. They were not church-goers and I thought probably would not know what I meant if I said he went to the church with his grandpa, so I just said, "He went to work with his grandpa this morning." Then she questioned, "Did he want to go to work with his grandpa?" and I replied, "Yes I guess he did." Not to be outdone by the "kid," she said "My daddy said to me this morning, 'Do you want to go to work with me?' and I said, "Hell no. I'm too little to work."

I almost cracked up! It sounded so funny coming out of that little mouth. It was not hard to figure the kind of language she had to listen to at home.

We enjoyed a trip to Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, August 19th to the 23rd. Troy went as a member of the Board of Evangelism. It is beautiful country and the special services in the evenings were always inspiring, with outstanding music and speakers.

Troy left on October 7th for Clarksburg to help Bland in a revival series. He stopped at the Glen for a short time and had a meal with Myrtle Norcross before driving on over the mountains of W. Va. The services were well attended, as his little black book shows, and the notes in his Pastors Record indicates that the church was strengthened.

Ted, Blossom and Kay arrived by Eastern Airline on December 26th. They did not get to Winter Park until 7:00 p.m., which made our family dinner at the church rather late. We all went to Howard's on the 28th and to Cape Kennedy and Marion's on the 30th. His little book does not say when they returned to Akron but my guest book says they stayed eight days. Zylpha drove over from Lakeland for a two days visit while they were here. So 1968 ended on a happy note!

NEXT - 1969 - BETH