Reclaimed Memories

 think you who read this may need to be reminded of some things which are contained in my "Preface." Just remember that this segment was the very first written of my "Reclaimed Memories." I started typing on my little typewriter, so several pages of this had to be transcribed to the computer. I debated about rewriting this, so that there would be less chance of misunderstanding. I am well aware that you have already read essentially, some of the facts contained in this. But at eighty-four years I do not want to do a lot of rewriting. Everything is not in chronological order. My typing followed my thoughts! These are sometimes neither logical or in order. The following is from my typewritten pages.)

I guess what I am experiencing on this May Day of 1991, is a feeling of frustration. I seem to be accomplishing nothing beyond the tasks for comfortable living. So I am going to go through Troy's little appointment books and jot down some of the highlights of each year. We have all the books from 1955 to the present time, except 1971 and 1977. Those two were lost, causing us much concern at the time. Evidently the '71 was lost late in the year and we did not try to replace it, but the '77 was lost early in the spring and was replaced by a similar sized red book.

I am going to begin with the year of 1960. I do not feel really confident that, at my age, I will have the time or the stamina to cover all the books and would like to know that the period that most concerns the grandchildren is covered.

I have studied Troy's 1960 book for two hours this morning, trying to extract the exact meaning of his jottings, symbols and abbreviations. Finally, with the help of his pastor's record, I was able to understand our movements during our vacation periods. Troy is not much help to me for he does not remember much about those long ago events. As I study our records I recall pleasant events and places I have not thought of for years! This project may prove to be quite rewarding to me.

I ended yesterday by spending all my free time studying and taking a few notes on the 1960 book. I had almost forgotten how busy we were in the active ministry. Each day seemed to bring some extra event or meeting of importance beyond the usual routine. But I do remember that I looked forward to retirement as a time of less pressure and a release from the feeling that we could never keep up with the work that needed to be done.

One of the highlights of 1960 was in having our friend, Johnny Olexa, as our evangelist from February 17th to the 28th. We were happy to entertain him in the parsonage, as we did all special speakers in the church. The congregation made it easier for me by scheduling the evening meals out for the three of us, with some family in the congregation. I was teaching at the time, so this the thoughtfulness was doubly appreciated. Johnny's messages were good and his wit and humor in fellowship infectious, so we felt the church was helped. His offering was $400.00, which was especially good at that time.


EVENTS OF 1960

At 4:00 a.m. on July 6. 1960 Alda Cloyd, Katharine Silberzahn and I started out from Bradenton, Fla. for points north. Alda was a seventy year old lady and a loyal supporter of our church and the parsonage family. She was the very efficient driver of her almost new Oldsmobile. Katharine, a retired bookkeeper, was our able church treasurer.

We spent the first night out in Hendersonville, N. Carolina, where Katharine planned to spend the remainder of the summer. The next night Alda and I stayed in Pleasant Corners, Ohio, with the Hatfields. Ted and Mildred were dear friends of ours when Troy was in Otterbein College, and we were serving the church in that village. It was good to visit with them again. The two children were in homes of their own, so they had a private room for each of us. Next morning we drove on to Akron, Ohio, where Alda left me at the home of one of my siblings. I cannot now remember which one. She drove on to her former home in Erie, Pa.

Troy was not anxious to spend much time in Ohio. Singers Glen was calling him! So I had jumped at the chance of going to Ohio with Alda so that I could have a longer time to visit with relatives. He left Bradenton with Lanny, after the Sunday evening service on July 24th or, very early on the morning of the 25th. He does not remember and his appointment book does not state, but I seem to remember that they left around 4:00 o'clock in the morning. His little book gives me no information as to what was happening, or where they were going from that Sunday until the following Saturday but I knew they stopped at the Glen, before coming on to Akron.

While they were in Akron services must have been going on at the Park Evangelical United Brethren, where Blossom and Ted attended for his big pastor’s record book states that he spoke there on Thursday evening on the subject “The Christian Witness."

We started for the Glen on Saturday, taking Blossom with us and leaving Lanny in Akron. We stayed that night at Uncle Glen Brady's near Belington, W. Va. We left the next morning for West Union where Troy's brother. Bland, was pastor of the United Brethren Church. The hours before reaching here must have been uneasy ones for us. We did not arrive until 9:45 and Troy was to preach for Bland. His subject here was, "It Takes All Kinds."

This seemed to be a preaching mission for Troy instead of a vacation. But he always loved to preach, especially before his first light stroke in late 1969. We left Bland's in time for Troy to bring the evening message in the church in Elkins, which was constructed during the years of our pastorate there. At that time it was just known as the Elkins United Brethren Church, but after the union of the denomination with the Methodists it was named “Otterbein United Methodist," for the founder of the United Brethren Denomination. This union did not take place until 1968.

The next morning we drove to Zylpha and Creede's. Creede was in the hospital and we visited him before going for a short visit to Rosalyn's in Coalton. We drove to the Glen that night and spent the rest of the week in work there. On Saturday afternoon we drove to Waynesboro, Va., where Troy had preached for nine months before we moved to Florida in 1957. We stayed that night with Melvin and Leola Hahn. We still have many very close friends from that brief pastorate there. Perhaps the closest were the Hahns for their names will appear in my memoirs many times.

We would have liked to go with our friends to the Waynesboro church the next morning, but Troy had been asked to have the morning services in the Verona church on the 7th and 14th of August. This arrangement had been made before we left Bradenton. Troy had held two revivals there and when the congregation learned that we were to be in the Glen they requested that the church secure him for services while the pastor was on vacation. Troy held the last revival in the old church in February of '51, while the new one was under construction, and in March of '52 the first series of services were held in the new building.

Rev. Richard Brill was the pastor during those years. His wife, Grace, insisted that Troy drive to Elkins the last weekend of the revival and bring me back. This he did and the Brills became two of our dearest friends. Our lives crossed in many intimate ways until their deaths several years later. They also wanted me to come back at the close of the meeting in '52, but both men were involved in visitation, and a couple from the congregation came for me. (So many things return to my memory as I record those events of years past!) Arrangements had been made for our dinners on both Sundays of this vacation period--on the 7th at the home of the Herman Lotts family and the next Sunday with the Charles Cales.

After the noon meal on the 14th we returned to Waynesboro and Troy brought the evening message at the Glovier Church there. We met with a group of our friends after the service and did not leave for the Glen until after midnight.

Between those two Verona Sundays we did a lot of work on the house and made another trip into W. Va. The annual conference was in session in Buckhannon and we spent time there on the 10th and the 11th. This gave us an opportunity to see several of our minister friends and delegates that we knew from churches we had served. We spent the night of the 10th with Zylpha and Creede. In the afternoon of the 11th we went to visit the Smiths near Morganstown and stayed the night. One other memorable event of this last week of our 1960 vacation was a Christian dedication of the Hahn's lovely, new brick home. We had eaten the noon meal at the Rexroads, then went on with them and other members of the church to the service of dedication, which Troy conducted. I remember that someone sang, "Bless This House, O Lord, We Pray." I do not know who the soloist was, but the entire service was very impressive.

Monday, August 15th, we spent at the Glen with tag-end jobs and preparation for departure on the next day. This was always a big task. All water lines had to be drained and other things done that would make the house secure and safe for another year. We always tried to leave everything in "apple pie" order. It was so nice to return almost a year later, and find it just as we left it! The lack even of dust was almost unbelievable!

Tuesday morning, August 16th, we decided to take a little longer way back to Bradenton. We were so glad we did. We took the beautiful Blueridge Parkway to the south and took time out to go to the top of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. Here we timidly walked the swinging bridge between two high peaks. We spent that night in Morganton, N. Carolina, and the next at Howard's in Melbourne. We got back to the parsonage a little before noon. Troy went immediately to the hospital to visit someone from the church.

Our 1960 vacation was over! It had been a long one for me; from July 6th to August 13th. Preschool sessions began for me on the following Monday, August 22nd.

There was one other event in 1960 that Troy noted in his appointment book. He was invited back, all expenses paid to participate in the dedication of the first building of Shenandoah College at its new location in Winchester, Virginia. There is a bronze plaque in the hallway of one of the buildings that gives him credit for the change in the location of the school and its preservation for future generations. The dedication was on October 16th, but he left Florida on the 12th in order to have a day or two at Singers Glen. He went by train to Waynesboro and Hahns let him have one of their cars to use while he was in the state.

I think Troy spent a lot of time during our vacation clearing the three acres we owned and trimming apple trees. He had great stacks of green debris, which needed to dry out in order to bum and he was able to dispose of that while he was there. He had short visits with both Zylpha and Rosalyn on this trip and spent one night with the A. J. McQuains in Elkins.

(The instructions at the bottom of this computer tells me that I have typed about four pages. The first page was just a preface and the other three covering Troy's appointment book for 1960. With 35 books yet to cover. Will I ever finish even them, much less the years of our lives before the advent of appointment books? I wonder!!)

(I really think I am now over my frustration with this computer in spite of the fact that at times I felt I would never remember all I needed to know to be able to produce nice looking documents. But today I have experienced no difficulties at all and I find that I can type faster on it than on my own typewriter, mainly because the corrections are so easily made. (Now I will put into the computer another of the pages I typed earlier, giving it the date of the typewritten sheet. May 30, 1991)

NEXT - 1961 - LANNY