Back in the 1960's the preacher for the local Methodist church was a fun-loving man by the name of Charlie Davis. He had come from New York, and had been our pastor for a couple of years. He and his family were well liked in the community. His wife, Betty, taught piano lessons to several students, and they had a cute daughter, Barbara, about 13 years old, who was a year younger than me. There were twin girls, Jeanie ane Joanie, who were a couple years younger than their sister. Charlie also had an aunt, Margaret, who had no other relatives and lived with Charlie and his family. She was up in years, but was a nice lady with a bit of a fiesty personality. Pastor Davis and his family liked the Sandhills, but had felt called to go to Santa Barbara, California, to minister in a church there. We all were sad that they were leaving, but my folks, my sisters, and I volunteered to help them pack a U-Haul truck when they were ready to leave.
We spent about three hours loading the truck, and were ready to say our final farewells. It was one of those occasions when, even though we had been good friends for a couple years, chances of ever seeing each other again were quite slim. Everyone was feeling a bit solemn and sad, when Charlie said, "We'll all see each other in Heaven when the time comes, but you'd better say 'good-by' to Aunt Margaret now." Aunt Margaret grabbed her purse and gave poor Charlie a couple blows with it, but the general mood was considerably lighter as we got in the car to drive back home.
We spent about three hours loading the truck, and were ready to say our final farewells. It was one of those occasions when, even though we had been good friends for a couple years, chances of ever seeing each other again were quite slim. Everyone was feeling a bit solemn and sad, when Charlie said, "We'll all see each other in Heaven when the time comes, but you'd better say 'good-by' to Aunt Margaret now." Aunt Margaret grabbed her purse and gave poor Charlie a couple blows with it, but the general mood was considerably lighter as we got in the car to drive back home.