Life in the Ozarks : Remembering my oldest brother on his 80th
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Brother George celebrates his 80 th birthday today, June 25. This column is my tribute to him.
My first memory of my oldest sibling was when he was a teen. I was a little girl when we moved to Arkansas from Nebraska, an exciting adventure to all of us, except George. He hated it when his friends called him a hillbilly. He didn't stay in the Ozarks long, but journeyed to Texas where he finished high school and got a job breaking horses.
After graduation the restless young man joined the Navy. Following his one-year stint as a "pretty wild and woolly sailor boy" (his words ) he followed the harvest to Washington where my grandparents lived. George's life changed when he encountered Christ. It seemed his wanderlust days were over. Then God called him to the ministry. George attended Northwest Bible College where he courted and subsequently married pretty, dark-haired 17-year-old Arlene. They celebrated their 58 th wedding anniversary this year.
George made one trip back to Arkansas when our dad died. Since he'd left home, another sister had been born, so this was the first time all 12 of us were together - at Papa's funeral in 1950. Only one other time, at a family reunion, would all 12 of us be together again.
For some reason, George preferred living in cold, harsh climates (maybe it was a reminder of the blizzards in western Nebraska where he was born ). He pastored small, struggling congregations in Oregon, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. Though he was pastor, he held jobs as a mechanic, block layer - his beautiful stonework graced the fronts of many of the churches he built.
After his three daughters were married we weren't surprised when he ended up in Alaska where he built and pastored churches. The couple ran a church camp a few years. Sister Helen and I, with our husbands, made many trips up there to "help out. "Alaska winters were hard on cars, so George's mechanical skills came in handy. He became well known for laying block all over the northland. He also drove a school bus to "pay his way. "In fact, Delta Junction was the first church from which he received a salary - $ 1, 200 a month. Before he left his pastorate at Houston, Alaska, that church began paying him a modest salary. By then he was in his 70 s.
George often said," Work is my hobby and the ministry my calling. "He built church houses and parsonages throughout the northwest, practically driving in each nail himself, with the help of church members. When he would move to the next church, he always left the buildings debt-free with the local congregation. His family ofall over the country - Black Sea, Romanian border. George also worked on a sewing machine, got it working. Wherever he went George encouraged pastors. The couple made three overseas mission trips from 1991 to 1993, and George traveled to Albania in 1992.
For my minister brother, retirement is just a thought, not a serious consideration.
"I would like to spend the rest of my life going around and helping other churches," he said," just living in our motor home, doing what needs to be done."
And he's doing just that. At present he is pastoring a small church in Oregon.
I've been with George on many of his birthdays, but I regret I won't be with him on this special date, his 80 th birthday.
Marie Putman is a longtime freelance columnist for The Rogers ten lived in church basements where Sunday School classes were held and in trailers. The pastor and his wife also raised three of Arlene's sisters after her mother died; and a few other family members came to live with them at times.
When most people would have retired, George and Arlene took three short-term mission trips behind the slowly disintegrating Iron Curtain and became loved by the people of Bulgaria "That was the highlight of my total ministry," George said. "I saw people just coming out from communism into freedom - an impoverished country with a slow pace of life - hungry for the gospel. We saw more people saved - 1, 000 in three months. We didn't plant seed, just harvested."
In Bulgaria, George worked on cars that hadn't run for years. He often had to make parts because none were available. He got the pastor's car running, and they went Hometown News.
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