The facts are I have always been an agnostic. That is just, to my mind, how it works out. I realize that many people, even most people, disagree with me and then some. They are welcome to their opinion. I am not writing this to discuss my religious beliefs.

This is to remember a time and place; "The First Baptist Church of Garden City" was a big part of that time and place.

My mother was not raised in any church. My father's father was a Methodist minister; but, my father had not regularly attended church since childhood until they moved to Garden City and Lem Turner Road. My mother and two sisters hated the move - at first! As far as they were concerned, they were city girls; and, this was in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't much for a young girl to see or do.

Beverly started going to "The Garden City Baptist Church" and eventually got my parents to attend; and, of course, they took me. W.B. Sloan was the preacher. My mother always claimed that the day she reached out and shook the preacher's hand, it wasn't his hand she was reaching for - but me, running down the aisle! And so, she became a member of the church and the rest of the family followed.

Just about every Sunday for the better part of twenty years we were in that church. I remember Sunday school classes in a large frame building behind the church. First I was a "Beginner." Then I was a "Primary." By the time I became an "Intermediate," the church had moved to the new building with the Sunday school classrooms built into it. Back then children did not go to a nursery during services. We sat by our parents, chewed "juicy fruit" gum and behaved ourselves. In my opinion, it was a good thing to learn how to do. There was no air conditioning. That came after I stopped going to church.

My father had become a deacon! And, being a somewhat "round" man, every Christmas he was "Santa" at the annual Christmas party. He gave away nice brown bags of fruit, nuts, and candy to everyone - children and adults alike! Nowadays, that would be considered too secular; but, back then no one thought anything about it.

We also had Halloween parties, real Halloween Parties!

My mother was a "Gypsy fortune teller" at one of them. I remember me and my best friend, Sara, going inside what was usually one of the Sunday school class rooms but which had been turned into the "Gypsy's reading room." I remember sitting there pretending my mother wasn't my mother while she read my fortune. All good stuff!

There was another church Halloween party for which my mother made me a black cat suit. It covered me from head to toe. Only problem was I couldn't see out of it too well and never knew where I was going. We all lined up for our costumes to be "judged." The line went in one direction. I went in another. Everybody laughed and I won the contest!

Times have changed! Nowadays people at the same church would consider a Halloween party like that somehow in league with the devil; but, back then, it was just good, clean fun.

In summer we all would go to "Strickland's Landing" at Kingsley's Lake in north central Florida. The whole church would pile up in whatever transportation we could find and go together. We would have a picnic and swim until it started to get dark. Then we would all go home.

There was also the annual "Homecoming" and "dinner on the ground" generally in September or October. My mother's specialty for those occasions was "banana pudding." But, it didn't stop there!

Eating is something Southern Baptist believe in! Drinking no! but, eating most definitely! Many times, after church, a group of us would go to eat out together. We always went to a restaurant named "Bailey's" because they did not serve alcohol. We always ordered a "seafood platter." It was a long time before I realized I could get anything at a restaurant other than seafood! This was a momentous discovery for me since I hate seafood - always have! We barely had time to get home before it was time to go to "training union" and the evening service. After that it was a family tradition to go home and have oyster stew before retiring for the night.

I could manage to eat the soup; but, the oysters were a real problem! One night my sister, Mildred, and her husband and kids were visiting. The adults ate at the table in the dining room and we kids were in the living room at a little table of our own. My niece, Regina, dared me to eat an oyster. I did; and threw up all over our table, the oyster stew, and everything. It was the last time I ate an oyster!

I joined the church and was baptized at the age of six. I knew what I was doing. I was pleasing my parents and their friends. All that about "salvation," I understood what they were talking about, just didn't know if I believed it, and did not see where it was important. Anyway, Beverly had recently gotten married in the church with a fancy white dress which originally had a "train" which she didn't like and had removed. My mother made me a dress out of that train to be baptized in. Back then the church did not have a "baptismal." So I was baptized in the Trout River which, in my opinion, is the only way to do it. What can I say? I am a traditionalist!