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CENTENNIAL MINUTES
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS

February 5 - Reba and Shirley Blankenship

As part of our centennial celebration, we have asked many members and former members of our congregation to preserve their most treasured memories of Dillon Chapel. As the first in this series Reba and Shirley Blankenship submitted the following: Their most vivid memories are of the late 30's and 40's, walking knee-deep through mud to attend every church service and revival with their cousin, Virginia, and their sister-in-law Clarabelle. In the winter they remember building a fire in the pot-bellied stove after they arrived.
       Reba also has fond memories of teacher Nan Stewart's card class, and she has carefully kept over the years a collection of cards she received as a child.
       Rev. Owen Martin was their best remembered pastor -- he was the one under which they were converted. He also used to play croquet with them on their lawn. He revisited them a few years back. He had lived many years in Texas where he had retired after many years service as a Navy Chaplain.
       As a continuing series, we would like each of you to recall events and preachers that you remember best.

The congregation has only to sing "a Capella" for a Sunday or two to really appreciate the contribution of a pianist to our service. In a small church it is always a problem to recruit dedicated and trained individuals to carry on a music ministry. We are lucky to have such a pianist in Connie Kuhn, who has played for many years and is sorely missed in her few absences.
       Often the minister's wife was expected to contribute her musical ability. One such who comes to mind is Vickie Pullins, whose beautiful voice and talented playing was an inspiration. In the 1950's, Eleanor Nash provided music for our services until she moved to Florida. In the 70's and 80's, Mike Dillon's talented playing demonstrated God's ministry in music. The "Exalters" were an outgrowth of church worship, which provided another dimension of ministry in music. Through our musical ministry, worship services are enhanced, the Spirit moves, and people are sometimes saved!
       But it was not always so. In the middle 1930's, Dillon Chapel was hampered by the lack of a pianist. At that time, a young wife, Clarabelle Turley Blankenship, who had married at 16, had a small child and was herself barely 20, moved to Davis Creek and joined her husband's home church, Dillon Chapel. She had considerable talent for singing, and had always yearned for music lessons, but had never had that privilege. As a child, whenever she saw a piano she was drawn to it like a magnet. So, when the church found itself without a pianist, and the Thornburg family loaned an organ in order to train one, it was placed in Mrs. Blankenship's home.
       Her husband's cousins, Shirley and Becky Blankenship, were visiting when she sat down at the organ and, to their astonishment, began to play "There's A Land Where We'll Never Grow Old." She had never had a lesson or an instrument to practice on before.
       After that there was no stopping her, she practiced the hymns she was familiar with by ear until she could play for services, revivals and programs. Dillon Chapel had their pianist, until she and her family moved in the late 1940's.
       Today she serves God faithfully at Starcher Baptist Church in Charleston. But she still remembers the day she got an organ and Dillon Chapel gained a pianist!
       When we use our talents for God, nothing is impossible.

One of the congregation recalls that her foundest memory of Dillon Chapel as a child was walking to church on a clear Sabbath morning and hearing the church bell call the community to worship. The bell also tolled the death of the faithful in the community. It might also toll on happier occasions such as a wedding or birth.
       Over the years conditions changed, and more of the community "slept in" on Sunday mornings. For them, the church bell became a nuisance rather than a herald to worship.
       It was first installed in the old white frame church. When the present church was built in 1948, there was no bell tower included, so it was stored behind the garage, its usefulness diminished. There was even talk of selling it. It lay forgotten and rusting for many years, until the men of the church decided to build a free-standing bell tower. Kenny Ferguson and Charles Cooke spent many hours welding the steel to house the bell.
       Thanks to the generosity of Bill Dawson, the steel tower is now housed in brick as a memorial to his late wife, Cecelia. It quietly awaits the day when the community is again so unified and devout that it can call its people to worship.

It was a Sabbath morning in May, 1977, when I had been asked to speak in the Sunday Morning service for Layman's Day. It was the first time I had undertaken such an awesome responsibility. The congregation looks much different from the other side of the pulpit. I felt awkward and unworthy, and I wished I had left the speaking to someone more at ease and more experienced.
I stepped into the pulpit to give my message entitled "The Promises of God." At that moment, the choir began to sing a song chosen by the pastor, who was unaware of my topic. The name of the song was "Standing on the Promises."
I relaxed, confident of a Helping Hand. Just as I began my message, the church doors opened and in walked Weltha Nash, under her own steam on two artificial limbs. Having suffered years from the ravages of diabetes, she had had both legs amputated. It was a testimony to her courage and her faith that she triumphantly entered God's house, still praising the Lord. I hope she found as much comfort in the message as I did in her presence. Praise God -- the glory be His!!!