1976

e ended our ministry at the Mountain Valley Church on June 6th, 1976. The subject of Troy's last sermon was, "Pastor's Heart's Desire." The text was II Corinthians 6:1.

Our first year at Mountain Valley had been a happy one. Troy did not limit himself to the one service on Sunday and hospital visitation. He drove the thirty mile round trip each Wednesday to conduct a midweek Bible study. He spent all those afternoons in visitation.

I always gave some sort of children's message each Sunday before his sermon and the growth in attendance of all ages was gratifying. The church had been served by students from one of the three nearby villages for several years and the people were so grateful for an experienced speaker and leader.

At the quarterly conference before the annual state conference the congregation asked the district superintendent for our return. Marie Arrington, who was supervisor of welfare for the county, stood up and said, "We do not want to lose Rev. Brady and we especially do not want to lose Mrs. Brady." What an ego builder that statement was for me! After our return home that night Troy and I discussed the possibility of serving another year. We decided that if the Lord really wanted us there. It was not just to keep "church" as usual.

At the time of the union with the Methodist Church there was a movement to combine three rural Evangelical United Brethren Churches and build a large United Methodist Church in the small town of Lacey Springs, Virginia. Marie Arrington had written a history of the Mt. Valley Church entitled "A White Church On A High Hill." The congregation had helped finance its publication and they were not about to give up their identity. The people would not agree to the consolidation and it became a small station church, served from that time on by students. Consequently they had no housing for a pastor.

Troy was away when the superintendent called. He asked me if we would be willing to serve another year at Mt. Valley. I replied "We will not go back just to mark time. If the church will agree to build a parsonage so it can be served by a full time pastor we are willing to return." He consulted with the leaders of the congregation and we began at once to draw the plans for the beautiful, spacious brick home which was constructed and paid for over the next two years.

At the conference of 1989  a full time pastor was appointed. The congregation was very fortunate in the selection of outstanding young families to occupy the new parsonage and church growth continued. A lovely addition to the church was made a few years later; additional land was bought for parking and two years ago the entire parking area was paved. We receive the newsletter from there and are continually gratified by their treasury surplus. (I believe I wrote in my first segment on The Sixties about us being the first to sleep in the new parsonage.)

On June 11th we drove over to West Virginia to attend some of the sessions of the Annual Conference. Bland and Helen were retiring that year and we attended the retirement dinner with them. They had bought a home in West Union, where they lived for a period of time before selling and buying property in Clarksburg. We visited several of Troy's relatives in Junior, then went on to Akron, stopping for a visit with the Clintons on the way.

On this trip we put down new kitchen tile for my sister Elma. We also attended the Brady reunion at Ted and Blossom's on the 19th of June, returning home the 21st. Three days later we picked the last of the strawberries and two gallons of raspberries.

July 1st, on our way to Elizabeth, we visited friends in Parkersburg before going on to Ruby's in Elizabeth. On the 2nd Troy performed the wedding ceremony of my sister, Ruby Penney, and John Nicolais, in our home church in Vienna, W. Va. The announcement was made at the Thrash family reunion the next day. This reunion was especially nice. Ruby's daughter, Lonald was there with her husband Ted Conforti. Ted had been doing some carpenter work for Ruby. He had constructed long tables under a shelter and there was plenty of seating for all. This time it was not just the Thrash siblings. Many of our descendants were present.

It was a surprise to me but the extras had come to help celebrate Troy and my golden wedding anniversary on the next day. It was held at the Vienna Church, where Ruby had just been married. All our siblings on both sides were present, with their spouses who were still living. All of our grandchildren and their families came. At that time we had only two great-grandchildren. Many nieces and nephews came as did representatives from many of the churches we had served and the people who still remembered us in the Vienna church. Mrs. Miles and Frieda Newlon made the local plans and our sons footed the bill. It was certainly a big day for the Brady bunch. All of Marion's family came in a big covered truck belonging to. his son-in-laws. Howard drove up with his family. The trip for the Florida folks was about 1000 miles each way.


Our friends, Blair and Gladys McQuain, visited us on July 12th and we drove to Waynesboro the next day. We spent from the 18th to the 23rd at our former E. U. B. Golden Agers Camp, held at Ev-Un-Breth Acres near Buckhannon, West Virginia. These periods continued over a few years and we looked forward to seeing many old friends from our service of seventeen years in the West Virginia Conference.

From the camp we went to visit friends in New Haven, near the scene of our Union Circuit Charge. When we visited New Haven one of the people we saw was our old pastor's widow, Achsah Miller. We always took her out to eat while we were there and a young man at a restaurant spoke to us on one such trip. He called Troy by name and asked if he remembered him. Troy had to admit that he did not. The young man said, "I was saved at one of your revivals in the Peniel Church while you were pastor at Union. I was a teenage boy at that time." Such a good payday for Troy!

On August 15th some very welcome guests arrived. Blossom, Ted and Elma came from Akron and Zylpha and Dan from Fayetteville, W. Va. The Perdues stayed only one night, but the others were with us three nights. In October Helen Smith and Olive came for a short visit, and we made another trip to Ohio for Troy to marry Shellie, my sister Beulah's granddaughter.

NEXT - 1977 

The Brady Trilogy  I  Reclaimed Memories - (1991)  I  Pop Troy's Anthology - ( 1992)  I  Kinfolk - (1994)