At Weeks End
Extractions from manuscripts published after Thomas Wolfes death resulted in his novel You Cant Go Home Again.
I beg to pardon, wife Beverly and I have come back home, and completed the circle of return by rejoining First Baptist Church in Humboldt last Sunday.
The progression was natural.
I attended the church where my grandparents, Sherman and Ada Oliphant, were charter members from my earliest childhood recollections. Beverly came aboard as a teenager when she was invited to attend BYF (Baptist Youth Fellowship) by Janice (Pollman) McCullough, who also has returned to Humboldt with husband Charlie.
Beverly came into Humboldt from west of town and Cuppy School along about junior high, or at least thats when I first noticed her.
When we walked forward to become members, the Rev. Jerry Neely gushed with pleasure (my interpretation), perhaps because our joining probably lowered the average age of the congregation a tad. We also were greeted by a procession of members who came after dismissal, a nice touch that I suppose many churches follow.
Before wading further into this discourse, let me tell a story.
BYF met Sunday evenings. One Sunday we had had communion that morning and arriving a bit early for BYF, Janice and I were nosing around when we came upon a bottle of grape juice, left over from the communion service, under the lectern. Being teenagers, we polished it off.
I suppose the more progressive churches serve wine or sherry at communion, but Baptist dont cotton to drinking alcohol, to the point one Baptist never recognizes another should they bump into each other in a liquor store.
BEVERLY and I moved to Humboldt in December 2015 after living 50 years in Iola. The move was one we had thought about for some time, with no ill thoughts toward Iola or our neighborhood. We raised both kids in Iola, cultivated many friends and recall fondly a multitude of activities families fall into over five decades.
Of course, its not like we moved so far away, Humboldt being just 10 miles down the pike, and had it not been for son Bob and his family being just a stones throw from our new home we might have stayed put in Iola. We also have advantage of a number of other relatives almost within walking distance, a strong incentive for Beverly, being from a family of six kids, five of whom, including herself, live in Humboldt.
From a selfish standpoint, our new place has two advantages.
On cold mornings its wonderful to have an attached garage and be able to hop into a warm car and not have to scrape ice from its windshield.
Then, there is my room, a refuge from where at this moment Im writing this column. I have it ringed with shelves and cabinets, which hold hundreds of books, things Ive collected over the years and mementos. When I settle in before my computer, its a little like crawling into a planes cockpit, the room being that compact and crowded. Beverly also has her room, about as filled with her sewing and scrapbooking supplies.
In afterlife, if you should happen to run onto Thomas Wolfe, tell him he was dead wrong, you can come home again.
