My most memorable Thanksgiving ever was in 1958. Actually it started
around the end of May or first of June in 1957. I was finishing my second year
at BBC and was supposed to spend the summer working for my Dad at the Central
Baptist Church in Sherman. I had interned for him the summer before. Both Dad
and I thought it was a done deal, then when he held a business meet to
allocate the funds for my salary the church voted it down. I had quit my job in
Springfield, and had no other prospects there in Sherman. So I did what any
distraught and rejected young theologue would do, I went fishing.
When I got back from fishing I had a message from Foster Parnell asking
me to come to Henderson, Texas and do for him what I had done for Dad the year
before. He put me up in a Sunday School class room and I bathed in the
baptistery that summer. Mrs. Ruth fixed all my meals and I was a happy camper.
During the span of time I was there The Leonard E. Ferrell Family joined the
church. It was Mother, Father, younger brother, and one of the most beautiful
teenage girls I had ever seen. She was voted most beautiful by her high school
class, a majorette, FFA Sweetheart, and a host of other awards. I tried to get
our guys to ask her out on a date but they wouldn't, so I did. We hit it off
pretty good, and continued to communicate by letter once I got back to BBC.
Because of the distance, trying to finish my last year in college, and her
trying to finish her last year in high school. Our letters got fewer and further
apart and eventually stopped corresponding all together.
I graduated and went to work for Dr. Art Wilson in Wichita, Kansas. The
Sunday before Thanksgiving, at the close of the service, Dr. Wilson asked me
if I would like to attend the Thanksgiving Fellowship of the BBF. It was being
held in Ft. Worth at the First Baptist Church. Of Course, I wanted to go. I
hopped a train out of Wichita and Dad picked me up in Gainesville. There was
no train station in Sherman. Thanksgiving morning we got up early and drove
to Ft. Worth. That old auditorium covered a city block and had at least a
dozen doors in order for people to enter from most any direction.
Thoughtlessly, I entered the first door I came to, saw some of BBC
buddies, and sat down with them. Soon Bro. Parnell, Mrs. Ruth, and that beautiful
teenage girl was with them. I invited her to sit with me during the services
and we spent as much time together as we could before we went back home. We
started writing again, and in December of the next year, we got married. That
will be 46 years ago December 22. That was my most favorite Thanksgiving ever,
besides the most memorable. I have had 69 other Thanksgivings, but none tops
that one.
Bettye's husband in Georgetown