I had been active in Park View, Club Boulevard, Brogden Junior High, and Northgate
Park from the inception until my car accident in New York. I went to Club and Brogden
the first year each was opened and had attended Park View since it started in Barfield
Community Center. After my recovery period, I moved to Bailiff with a friend and dropped
out of church. One Sunday, I decided to visit my grandmother's church in East Durham,
saw a cute blond up in the choir, and was received so warmly that I made the 18 mile trip
every Sunday and Wednesday for services.
I joined the church, married the cute blond from the choir, and worked with the youth
fellowship. We had moved to Garrett Road in 1972 but continued driving to my new church.
Over the years I became deacon, taught youth Sunday School, helped the youth in a puppet
ministry, coached a girl's and a boy's softball and basketball teams, and even spoke at church
about once a quarter.
We started a gospel group and Rose was our manager. The three guys were taking
instument lessons once a week and performing on weekends; the pianist was the only one who
could sing or actually play. We called it Noise for the Lord. Rose usually booked us into rest
homes. We would then wheel the residents in, lock down their chairs, close the door, and then
we could play to a captive audience until they begged us to let them out.
I even held a week long revival at one rest home and was truly blessed by that experience.
Of course, I was hurt that our quartet wasn't asked to sing, but my cousin came and played the
piano each night.
Rose and I were respected church leaders and took the neighborhood children skating once
a month. Our VBS was attended by 75-100 including our teacher/helper one to five ratio
(lots of help). But in 1995 the church decided to close the doors. We sold our church, social hall
annex, and parsonage and distributed the money to the conference WHFMS and to our
denomination Camp Dixie in Fayetteville.
We had done the right thing; our church of 30 soon blossomed to over 150 and a child
care facility was opened by the new church body. We did not owe anything on our property
but we knew that the Lord's money and facility could be used better by local residents. Rose
and I carted my grandmother to our denomination church in Clayton and then went to Lowe's
Grove Baptist but she became older and we stopped taking her. She had told us that when she
was just sleeping through the service we would know that "she had been to church enough".
After years of wandering and wondering we knew we had to get back into church. We
decided to go to my home church in 2008. We were so welcomed we finally made the
commitment to join Park View November 27, 2010.
I see the many changes that have occured over the past 40 years, but I also recognize the
same commitment in the neighborhood to Northgate Park. I see the changes in the park area,
but I see the same familiar points that still stand as the city's premier location and neighborhood.
My story does not end here, but let's let the ones who were present while I was gone tell us the
story of these past 40 years.
