Glynn T Hill

by Stuart Holifield

     I was born on October 9, 1925, in Jackson, Tennessee, located in Madison County. I lived there until I was about five or six years old. At this time, we moved to Blytheville, Arkansas, but I do not remember how long we lived there. Following this, we moved to Caruthersville, Missouri. At this time, I had the measles and mumps both at the same time. Because of this, I had to stay in bed. I had just learned how to tie my shoes. I was sick so long that when I got better I had to relearn how to tie my shoes again. I remember looking out the window. I could see the balloons from the fairgrounds that were nearby. I wanted to go to the fair but I couldn't because I was sick. Later on, when I became an adult, one of my cousins took me to an area where the fair was, and I was able to find the house where I used to live. I did it by using the angle that I looked out of the window at the balloons of the fairgrounds. I was around six years old when I had the measles.

     Dad installed electric generators for AC Delco. This was before they had electricity and lights in homes and business. He would install the generator and put a light in the middle of the room. Then they could have electricity whenever they wanted. I remember a time when I was five or six. My father would go to the little country stores in Blytheville to install electric generators. The stores would use the generators to run the coolers to keep their meat. Before this time meat used to have to be cured with salt or smoked. Refrigeration dramatically changed how we preserved meat. Dad took me with him when he went to install one of these generators at one of the grocery stores. I like onions, and there was this great big beautiful onion. So I stole it. We were riding in the car, and I pulled the onion out and showed it to my dad. He said, "Oh, that is nice. Did the man at the grocery store give it to you?"

     "No," I said.

     "Well, did you buy it?" he asked.

     "No," I said.

     He did not say a word. He turned the car around and took me back to the store. I had to tell the grocer that I stole the onion. That was a good lesson. I had to face up to what I did. I cannot remember whether the man gave me the onion or not.

     Growing up I did not realize that we were poor. We had plenty to eat. My parents would squeeze a buffalo nickel until the Indian on one side rode the buffalo on the other side. On Saturday nights we would sit around and listen to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. The radio had a big knob on the box and the speaker sat on top of the box. We would have to finish out chores before we could listen to the radio. When we did listen, we had to sit close to the radio because we were so far out in the country. Back then we did not have strong antennas.

     I can't remember a time when I did not want to be an architect. I went to Georgia Tech to study architecture. While I was there, I felt the call to preach. After Georgia Tech, I went to University of Georgia, Atlanta Division for one quarter. Then I went to Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, where I got a Bachelor's of Arts degree with a major in history and a minor in English. I left there and went to South Eastern Seminary school in North Carolina.

     I finished school and pastored for thirteen and a half years. I married my first wife in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1949. At this time, I was about twenty-four. In August of 1962, I went to Nashville Tennessee, to be a consultant at the Baptist Sunday School Board. This was a Baptist publishing house that published religious literature for Sunday School lessons and church leadership. I stayed there for twenty years and then retired early.

     When I married my first wife, I lived in Kenly, North Carolina. There was a terrible storm that came through the area at that time. It was October, and the name of the hurricane was Hazel. I was a student then. I remember the storm blew debris in one direction, but when the eye of the storm came over, the sun came out and birds started singing. I thought it was over, so I got into my car and started to go to school because I had a class. School was about forty-five miles away. I didn't know any better, and the wind started blowing the other direction. There were roofs blown off of pig sheds and things like that going the other direction. This was a hurricane.

     I have seen the results of tornados, too. Some of us from church went to see the aftermath of a tornado in north Mississippi. There was a tree, and it had a 2x4 driven half way through the tree. The 2x4 was not even split on either end. The other thing I remember was a school house that was half gone; the other half was still standing. There was a desk with a book open on it, and the book was still there. I could not understand why, with all that suction, the book was not taken away.

     My first wife died of an embolism on the steps of the Baptist Church. Two years after she died, I married Ruth Anne Wade. Now my family consists of my son Martin Eric (Marty) from my first marriage, and Ruth Anne and her two sons from her first marriage, Guy Alton Wade and Gary Wayne Wade.

     When my first wife died, I was heartbroken. Grief consumed me. It was at this point that I allowed God to use me for whatever purposes he wanted of me. Now I hold seminars for people to help them through the grieving process. My wife and I begin our day by asking the Lord who he wants us to minister to today; this gives us a sense of purpose in this life.