Honoring Melvine Stewart Morgan: 2 Years since she went to heaven on January 17, 2020.
In the providence of God I met Melvine in Appomattox, Virginia, when our quartet from Holmes Bible College was invited by Daneel le Roux, for a weekend revival at the church he was suppling as an interim pastor for the conference superintendent, Rev. Dewey Yeatts. Melvine and her next door neighbors in Draper, North Carolina, had brought Melvine and Betty Von Moore to the church by Betty's father and mother, Melvin and Calle Moore.
Our quartet consisted of: Rolland Harrell, Eddie Wood, Willard Wagner, and Hugh Morgan.
That was in 1957, my first year at Holmes Bible College in Greenville, South Carolina. When I stood up to play a trombone solo, "How Great Thou Art," I saw Melvine for the first time sitting next to Betty Von in the revival service. It was love at first sight. I said to myself, "I am going to marry that beautiful woman."
I followed through, got Melvine's mailing address and telephone number. Shortly after that kairos moment (Divine moment), I began a three-year courtship with Melvine which culminated in marriage that lasted for almost 60 years when she died from ovarian cancer. It all started in church, and we had our funeral director to bring her body to our church, Christian Life Worship Center in Athens, Georgia where we have our membership.
Melvine and I were married on Saturday evening, August 13, 1960, at the Draper Pentecostal Holiness Church. The church was filled, including her students and their families who loved her dearly.
1960 was an exiting year for me. I graduated from Furman University, finished three years of Bible courses under the teaching of Dr. Paul F. Beacham and Mr. Jesse Daniels, was ordained by the Rev. Dr. Robert L. Rex, director of IPHC Evangelism, at the annual conference of Alabama that was held at the River Springs Camp Meeting and got married.
After our honeymoon to the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, we traveled to Wilmore, Kentucky where I would attend Asbury Theological Seminary in residence for three years.
We went there on faith. We had no money, no scholarship, no place to live and no jobs. I had a dream or a vision to complete the Master of Divinity course in partial requirement to become a military chaplain. Melvine loved me, believed in my dream to prepare to be a military chaplain and a pastor. God called me to be a military chaplain while serving in the United States Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia. Navy Chaplain James Hull ministered to me and many Marines at the Marine Corps Base. He told me what the requirements were and I followed them in proper order.
Melvine helped me to go through seminary. She taught school in Versailles, Kentucky our first year. The second and third year she taught the Wilmore Elementary School. I worked too at the IGA grocery store, and my last year served as the minister of music and directed the adult choir while Melvine directed the children's choir at the Wilmore Presbyterian Church.
God provided a furnished basement apartment owned by Joe and Joann Fletcher. Joe was the butcher. When I registered for classes, I learned that a prominent Methodist lady from Sebring, Florida, gave me a scholarship for all three years which provided for my tuition each quarter.
Melvine and I made our way on Sundays to the Wilmore United Methodist Church where we met a lot of people. Dr. Harold Kuhn, a professor at the seminary, was our Sunday school teacher, and he taught me in seminary.
We began our marriage reading through the Bible and praying together. That was a key to our success in marriage.
During our years in Wilmore, Melvine had a miscarriage. The infant was a boy and we named him Christopher Todd. Then in my senior year Melvine had a still birth baby girl by C Section and we named her Julia Frances after our mothers. Dr. Frank Bateman Stanger, president of Asbury Theological Seminary, conducted a graveside service in the Lexington Memorial Cemetery in the children's section. Melvine's parents, Russell and Frances Stewart, and her sister Ann Russelline Stewart drove from North Carolina to stand with us. We were able to purchase a pink casket for Julia Frances and we dressed her in pink as directed by Melvine from the hospital. She was unable to attend the graveside service. However, Melvine' father captured the service on his 8 mm movie camera. Melvine's mother picked out the pink outfit Melvine wanted Julia Frances to wear.
Those are a few things I have thought about on this second year since Melvine fell asleep in death and awakened in heaven to live eternally with Jesus Christ her Lord and Savior.
I miss her daily, and I do now as I compose this article.
In the providence of God I met Melvine in Appomattox, Virginia, when our quartet from Holmes Bible College was invited by Daneel le Roux, for a weekend revival at the church he was suppling as an interim pastor for the conference superintendent, Rev. Dewey Yeatts. Melvine and her next door neighbors in Draper, North Carolina, had brought Melvine and Betty Von Moore to the church by Betty's father and mother, Melvin and Calle Moore.
Our quartet consisted of: Rolland Harrell, Eddie Wood, Willard Wagner, and Hugh Morgan.
That was in 1957, my first year at Holmes Bible College in Greenville, South Carolina. When I stood up to play a trombone solo, "How Great Thou Art," I saw Melvine for the first time sitting next to Betty Von in the revival service. It was love at first sight. I said to myself, "I am going to marry that beautiful woman."
I followed through, got Melvine's mailing address and telephone number. Shortly after that kairos moment (Divine moment), I began a three-year courtship with Melvine which culminated in marriage that lasted for almost 60 years when she died from ovarian cancer. It all started in church, and we had our funeral director to bring her body to our church, Christian Life Worship Center in Athens, Georgia where we have our membership.
Melvine and I were married on Saturday evening, August 13, 1960, at the Draper Pentecostal Holiness Church. The church was filled, including her students and their families who loved her dearly.
1960 was an exiting year for me. I graduated from Furman University, finished three years of Bible courses under the teaching of Dr. Paul F. Beacham and Mr. Jesse Daniels, was ordained by the Rev. Dr. Robert L. Rex, director of IPHC Evangelism, at the annual conference of Alabama that was held at the River Springs Camp Meeting and got married.
After our honeymoon to the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, we traveled to Wilmore, Kentucky where I would attend Asbury Theological Seminary in residence for three years.
We went there on faith. We had no money, no scholarship, no place to live and no jobs. I had a dream or a vision to complete the Master of Divinity course in partial requirement to become a military chaplain. Melvine loved me, believed in my dream to prepare to be a military chaplain and a pastor. God called me to be a military chaplain while serving in the United States Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia. Navy Chaplain James Hull ministered to me and many Marines at the Marine Corps Base. He told me what the requirements were and I followed them in proper order.
Melvine helped me to go through seminary. She taught school in Versailles, Kentucky our first year. The second and third year she taught the Wilmore Elementary School. I worked too at the IGA grocery store, and my last year served as the minister of music and directed the adult choir while Melvine directed the children's choir at the Wilmore Presbyterian Church.
God provided a furnished basement apartment owned by Joe and Joann Fletcher. Joe was the butcher. When I registered for classes, I learned that a prominent Methodist lady from Sebring, Florida, gave me a scholarship for all three years which provided for my tuition each quarter.
Melvine and I made our way on Sundays to the Wilmore United Methodist Church where we met a lot of people. Dr. Harold Kuhn, a professor at the seminary, was our Sunday school teacher, and he taught me in seminary.
We began our marriage reading through the Bible and praying together. That was a key to our success in marriage.
During our years in Wilmore, Melvine had a miscarriage. The infant was a boy and we named him Christopher Todd. Then in my senior year Melvine had a still birth baby girl by C Section and we named her Julia Frances after our mothers. Dr. Frank Bateman Stanger, president of Asbury Theological Seminary, conducted a graveside service in the Lexington Memorial Cemetery in the children's section. Melvine's parents, Russell and Frances Stewart, and her sister Ann Russelline Stewart drove from North Carolina to stand with us. We were able to purchase a pink casket for Julia Frances and we dressed her in pink as directed by Melvine from the hospital. She was unable to attend the graveside service. However, Melvine' father captured the service on his 8 mm movie camera. Melvine's mother picked out the pink outfit Melvine wanted Julia Frances to wear.
Those are a few things I have thought about on this second year since Melvine fell asleep in death and awakened in heaven to live eternally with Jesus Christ her Lord and Savior.
I miss her daily, and I do now as I compose this article.