Resources on Wingard Family
Retirement was not in the vocabulary of my uncle, John Calvin Wingard. Since ‘retiring’ from a lifetime of ministry at age 70, he pastored two churches, one for nineteen years and a second for the remaining three years of his life. Two weeks ago he was out making pastoral visits to his small flock at First Presbyterian Church in Ripley, Tennessee. On Mother’s Day, he drove fifteen miles to do what he did most Sundays for the past 68 years, proclaim God’s word. The next day, one of his sons drove him to Tupelo, Mississippi to visit his oncologist. He was informed that treatments would yield no further benefits. He walked into a hospital without assistance. By the end…
Read MoreFor the next nine weeks, Lynne teaches again one of her favorite books, The Iliad, this time at Manchester Academy. I enjoy the new purchases that crop up around our home. I owe my love of The Iliad to one man, Dr. John Reishman, one of the outstanding literature professors at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Until his class, I don’t recall reading a work of ancient Greek literature, and, had I made the attempt, the ability to navigate the text would have been sorely lacking. I needed a teacher, and found one in Dr. Reishman. Since then, I have read The Iliad several times in the translations of Fitzgerald, Lattimore, and Fagles, and a very small portion…
Read More“Retirement” is not in my Uncle John’s vocabulary. At age 90, he is the visiting pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Ripley, TN and is in Chapter 5 of his Romans series. You can listen to him twice a week on the local radio station. I am thankful for his testimony and example. Ordained in 1951, Uncle John joined the PCA in 1974. What a joy to catch up with him last weekend at the wedding of Megan Joy Wingard and Timothy Stern!
Read MoreThirty years ago today I was ordained to the gospel ministry at Faith Presbyterian Church in Morganton, North Carolina. You only get one first church, and this one couldn’t have been better. Loving and caring and encouraging, its members will forever hold a special place in my heart. Apart from my sons’ and grandchildren’s birthdays and the anniversary of my marriage to Lynne, my ordination day is the most memorable and important date in my life. Lynne makes the day special – a card, gift, and dinner – just one example of the many ways she stands beside me in my work. My interest in the ministry began long before I ever preached. Since I was a teenager, I wanted to to be a…
Read MorePictures early in marriage and later in life of my great grandfather and great grandmother, George Franklin (1860-1949) and Carrie Lou Moore Wingard (1870-1955). The last two pictures were taken at the Wingard family home at Elmdale in southern Montgomery County, Alabama.
Read MoreA Centerpoint School class roll from 1913. Centerpoint was located in southern Montgomery County, Alabama. It was near Elmdale, the Moore-Wingard farm. Some of the teachers lived with the Wingards. Clinton King was the teacher in 1913. One of his students is my grandfather’s sister, Magnolia Wingard, age 15. Five years later, in 1918, Clinton King and Magnolia Wingard were married. Several of my great uncles and aunts and their kin are listed on the report card. I have posted additional information elsewhere about Centerpoint School.
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