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INTERVIEW WITH
HUBERT PHELPS (AGE 95) by his daughter-in-law Katie
Phelps
My wife, Mary, and our three boys started going
to Francis Asbury United Methodist Church back in 1956.
It was then that Mayme Medford was teaching my son Tom.
We have three sons, Tom, Howard and William. Mayme
invited Tom to come to church so we all went. That would
make it almost 50 years that we have been attending. We
transferred from the Baptist church. Most all our family
has held several jobs at the church over the years.
Our family enjoyed going to Francis Asbury and we
all made some special friends there over the years. We
saw a lot of weddings, funerals and baptisms there.
William married Carroll at the church.
Thinking back over the years - At first they
didn’t have the men’s club, but I joined later. We would
meet the fourth Sunday for breakfast. I would make
biscuits and sweet rolls. I did that for many years.
Some Easter mornings, we would go up to Mount Pisgah and
have sunrise service and cook breakfast on the mountain.
It’s hard to remember some of the folks I went to
church with but I remember Mr. Duckett who was a school
principal and Kathleen Duckett, the Rutherfords, and the
Roes. Glenn Penland was a great help to me when I was
run over by a van. He took me to the doctor several
times, and helped me get things I needed. Folks that
come see me at Pisgah Manor are Len Driggers, Jim
Harkins, Jim Trull, Louise Henson and others.
The old white church was totally different than
the new church. We had all the Sunday School classes in
the sanctuary – different groups in each corner. For a
long time, we only had outhouses there. After the new
church was built, we used the old one for a while for
gatherings, movies, and festivals. I remember one
Halloween, when men got behind a curtain with their
shoes off, and made people guess who they were. Me and
Tom got back there and put one foot down each – one
little (mine) and one big (Tom’s) – people had a hard
time figuring out who those feet belonged to!
When they took the old church down, I bought two
of the lights in the sanctuary. Mary Roe wanted one of
them, so I gave it to her. I bought a door and gave it
to Tom to put on his house too.
I remember at the new church when Joe McCombs was
preacher. We had a womanless wedding and Don Howell, a
little fellow, was the groom, and Tom was the bride
(only bride I ever saw with a beard!) The next day some
lady called up the church and wanted to know what kind
of church we had -–having a wedding like that! I told
her it was all in fun and a fundraiser.
My son Howard became the church custodian when he
was in school, and then when he quit, I started doing
the work. I was plumber, electrician, carpenter, cook
and bottle washer. I can’t remember how long I did that,
but it was a pretty long time. One time at the church we
were having a reunion or homecoming, and we didn’t have
any water because for some reason, the city had cut off
the water. I had to hook up a couple of hoses to the
Sawyer house and run them over to the church so we could
have water.
The XYZ group used to meet for lunch on Thursdays
and sometimes we had programs too. Sometimes I would
bake cakes for that and for other events too. I think my
favorite one was double chocolate cake.
Francis Asbury church has been a strong bond in
the lives of my family and I wish the church another
great 100 years! |
