Church by the Bronze Pond and Tennessee Ernie Ford

Since I have a few ailments these days I sometimes don't get to church regularly. But recently I went to church right here in my own home. In fact I was lying in bed with my feet elevated. I was feeling very comfy and as it was getting dark I watched out the window for a while to see the different colors hit the pond through the trees. Then I decided to see what was on TV that evening.

I didn't feel like a murder mystery. I sure didn't want to listen to the news. I wanted something soothing, comfortable, and one that wouldn't add to my nighttime bad dreams. I was lucky. The Public Broadcast Network was airing (as one of their fund raisers) two hours of Tennessee Ernie Ford's religious music. Of course they are all in albums and we probably had the very ones but had gotten out of the habit of playing the LP records because they take more busy work to play them. But here they all were being played non-stop with just a long commercial in between records for how we can support the station. That was fine. It gave me time to go get a drink or use the bathroom.

When he started singing they showed his picture in black and white, but his voice came across in color. I got very relaxed, put my book aside which I planned to read while listening to the music. I didn't want to do anything but lie there and listen. Each song brought back a clear memory, or gave me a lift. When he started singing "Let the Lower Lights be Burning" I was back in the Ellis Sunday School as a teenager.

There was a large group of teens that came each Sunday and it wasn't always to seek religious nourishment. Our group sat in the upper left front of the former church -- at that time a community Sunday school. The piano was to our left and to our right was the women's class. Mrs. Watson, the Sunday School Superintendent sometimes let the people choose a song, but if it was left up to her, she chose "Let the Lower Lights be Burning." She had a low, strong voice and when she came to "some poor sinking seaman you may save" there was no doubt she meant it.

We were partially making fun when we kept choosing that song each week, but it was also because we loved to hear her sing that. When Ernie Ford sang the same song I almost got chilled and pulled up the covers a little. It reminded me of the wonderful variety of church experiences I have had, and this one from my youth was precious.

The Sunday school we attended during the school year was on 16th Street in Washington, D.C. I liked it OK, but what I really liked was having Papa give us money for the bus ride home so that he and Mama could come in for church in the one car our family had. We had to change buses at Dupont Circle so we took enough time to buy a candy bar while we waited.

When that song was over, Ernie Ford started in on "Precious Memories." Lester's father had died not too long after Lester and I had gotten married. Lester got an emergency leave from the Army and I was able to come be with him for the last days and the service. I had been a summer-time farm girl all my life, but life in the deep Ozarks was different. I was not familiar with the custom of neighbors coming to sit up with the sick man. As I remember there were three there when Harve Thornton died of TB. They had his bed fixed up on a screened porch to keep the rest of us from being in contact with any germs and he needed fresh air. But the neighbors came and sat with him along with his wife and children. At the funeral was the first time I had ever heard "Precious Memories" and it really moved me, as it did again the other night when I was listening to the TV.

I was so moved that I thought I wanted to share the feelings with my reading friends. I was in bed without any note pads or pens, so I started writing on the sides of a Kleenex box with a little pencil I found in my vanity drawer. But I soon lost interest in taking notes. I was just enjoying the songs as they came and thinking about all the good people in the different churches that Lester has served. I remembered with affection each choir of untrained members who could supplement the service with their music and choice of hymns which they discussed with Lester.

Early on in Lester's ministry I heard Ernie Ford sing the song, "Others." Until then I had been a stay at home Mom who did bookkeeping for some of the folks Lester worked with when he was an extension agent. My goal was to stay with the kids and help with income if I could. When I heard that song it crystalized my intention to be a social worker. I wanted to help others. When our youngest child started kindergarten I walked into the Bates County Welfare Office (the title then) and applied for a job. I was hired on the spot assuming my background was clean. I continued that work along with church work and United Methodist Women etc., until I retired as director of the Neighbors.

I felt uplifted when the show was over. I knew I must get out our old records and listen to him more often because there are lots of precious memories to keep in mind as now others are helping me. Thanks for staying with me,

Bless Your Little Pea Pickin Hearts.