We were in Memphis 2.5 years before Jason was born there in 1973 and then 1.5 more to 1975. Before the marriage I had rented a small house on the eastern edge of Memphis near the junction of two interstates from an older fellow employee of the Brotherhood Commission. It was nice.
As I moved from Pioneer RA Consultant to being Pioneer RA Department Director I became the supervisor of Mike Davis, the editor of Probe magazine for Pioneer RAs who came from Georgia as a newly-wed himself which meant we had a lot in common and became good friends.
Mike & Penny had a son before we had Jason and we went to the same church, Second Baptist. Lee & Liz Hollaway were a similar couple our age at the Brotherhood Commission, but we were not as close to them. Ginger had trouble being friends with anyone, but Mike & Penny had more patience with Ginger than just about anyone else.
I traveled in my work and in those early years tried to take Ginger with me when I could and she wanted to go, paying for her travel of course. That is shown in some of the scrapbook pages. She especially liked the conference I led on a Bahamas Cruise Ship for Youth Ministers! 🙂 And the Missions Game Conference I led at Walt Disney World! 🙂 She also liked living about 3 weeks in a hotel in St. Louis when I was Program Chair for the 5th National RA Congress in 1973 before Jason was born. But she tired of much of the other travel as rather boring for her and her traveling with me decreased over the first three years and then Jason was born and that made it more difficult. Then she complained when I traveled and would use the crying baby to shame me when I left.
I loved and enjoyed Second Baptist and the pastor and friends there and Ginger seemed to like it too. I led two summer youth camps while there as a volunteer and since camps are my big thing, I loved it! Both summers we rented the camp facilities at Fall Creek Falls State Park which is a great place for a summer camp! I was also the Pioneer RA Counselor at Second Baptist and Mike was my assistant. (Sort of an extension of our jobs in some ways.) The day before we left in 1975, Ginger and I went by the pastor’s house and had a good visit as we were leaving.
at Second Baptist Church.
“Birth of Jason” page.
Most of our friends were at the Brotherhood Commission and Second Baptist and not a lot. Ginger had trouble making friends and tended to be too outspoken or verbally critical of things, events, and people, which makes it difficult to make new friends. But Mike & Penny Davis stuck with us to the end and stayed friends from a distance after we moved to Dallas. They stayed in Memphis until the Brotherhood Commission disbanded and then move back to Georgia and I think Mike was on disability by then, not sure. I loss contact with them as Ginger and I were going through the divorce.
Memphis Scrapbooks & Few Photos
I wasn’t into photography much until after Jason was born, so not many photos until later.
- Memphis Photos (not many, mixed here with the broader family photos)
- 1970 Scrapbook
- 1971-72 Scrapbook
- 1973 Scrapbook (year Jason was born)
- 1974-75 Scrapbook (we left Memphis in ’75)
¡Pura Vida!
Return to Family of Marriage page.