The End of An Era

At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, the death of one man this past week has signaled the end of an era at our church.

On Wednesday, the Rev. Johnny Wallace, aged almost 80, passed away in the hospital. Rev. Wallace, or "Johnny" as he was known to all in the church, was, without exaggeration, a friend to all. A retired minister, he never retired from ministering to people - be they in church or "on the outside". I'll never forget how for years he would try to get Carrie, my daughter, to speak to him...she was a little shy of adults and wouldn't always want to speak; however, he kept trying...Sunday after Sunday, until she finally responded. Some adults would've just given up, but he never did. That was the kind of person he was - a friend to ALL, not just adults!

A personal funny story: one Sunday our church was having one of our infamous "hymn sings", something I privately dub "stump the pianist and organist". When we have hymn sings, people in the congregation call out hymn numbers and we play one verse for all to sing. If I truly don't know it, I say so! Anyway, one Sunday Johnny called out a number - it was "Day by Day" which had been a popular song back in the day and I thought I'd be fine with it. Well, nooooooo...what a nightmare....written in some weird rhythm that I've never seen for that particular song - needless to say, it was a DISASTER! Later, I told Johnny that he was on the "forever banned to pick hymns" list - he just laughed and admitted that he had no idea it would turn out like that - he just liked the words!

Johnny was often called upon to preach when our minister was out of town and always had interesting, thought-provoking sermons. He delivered his last sermon just 10 days before his death at our church's 90th anniversary celebration. Even though he had been ill for several weeks prior to this event, he made every effort to be there and do his usual great job. He ascended the steps to the pulpit using a cane (something I had never seen him use) and he had to sit down part-way through the sermon (also something he had never done), but it made no difference to us or to the wonderful sermon he preached. Thank goodness, it was recorded and copies are available!

Johnny Wallace will never be forgotten by those who knew and loved him - not just his family, but also his church family. His great sense of humor, words of wisdom just when you needed them most, and friendly smile will always be remembered. His legacy will live on in our hearts, but we sure will miss the man!