Tag: Old friends

Happy Birthday, Gary

August 12, 2025

Old friends are a treasure that some do not have in abundance. I am not one of those. In the 1960’s we lived on Nichols Street. The house sat on one lot, and the lot next door on the corner of Warren Ave. also belonged to Dad and Mom. To the east on Nichols was Rick. Rob lived on West Ave. Frank and Gary lived north on Warren. I’ve lost track of all of them except for the last. Over the last several years, I have tried to call him on his birthday. This year, I am going to write about some of our joint experiences.

I could call him a hand-me-down friend, but I prefer the terms longtime family friend or brother from a different mother. Gary started school at York Elementary, the same year my brother Sam did. Four years later, when I began my education there, they did not want a kid like me hanging around. When my brother graduated from high school and joined the Navy, the process of being a family friend had already started.

We attended the same church, and when I was in the Youth group, he was in High School and graduated the year I finished Junior High. He took a year away from SMSU and his degree to join the National Guard to begin his military career. He returned as a part-time student and was there when my college career began four years after he started.

Lunch at the cafeteria, or Bear’s Den, bowling, and pinball games at the campus union solidified this friendship between my brother Bud, Gary, and me. If it had not been for him bringing the new pastor at church to meet me and invite me to a group for college students, I might not have been called and accepted my call to ministry. Because of that, I left SMSU and transferred to Southwest Baptist College.

As a side note, Gary’s first nephew was born on my sixteenth birthday, the day before his. I don’t know if I have been forgiven for the ribbing I gave him about that. He may not know it, but one of my daughters was born in August. Fortunately, she came before either of our birthdays. I was glad because I didn’t want the teasing I gave him.

Gary graduated and was promoted and moved by the company he worked for. We saw each other briefly at Christmas. When Sam went back to the Navy, he drove to visit Gary up north and through Pennsylvania to see me where I was pastoring a church that summer, and then down to his duty station in Florida.

The next phase of our relationship was when he returned to Springfield and began working where Cindy, my wife, worked. I remember the night he came by our house and told us he had been terminated. That was when he started dating his future wife, who also worked there.

He raised his family, and I mine these last forty years, and we have talked from time to time. Some special occasions brought us together. Birthdays, anniversaries, funerals, and even the occasional Walmart trips meant short or protracted conversations.

He is still employed, unlike Cindy and I. From time to time, I visit him at work, as I did when I was working, and he is someone I can confide in and share memories with him that no one else knows about.

We can truly be called old friends in more ways than one. This is my way of saying, Happy Birthday to you, my dear friend. And many more.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

One hundred years of memories.

May 9, 2025

Only about thirteen for this writer. 1963 was the year Immanuel Baptist Church dedicated a new building on the corner of Nichols and Lafontaine in Springfield.  The dedication of the facility is an early memory. Another event from the 1960’s was claiming salvation in Bible School in that same church.

The one-hundred-year anniversary celebration was one of joy and tears for those that attended. As stated in a previous article, your author was there for some of the festivities. The fellowship and food were enjoyed in the Christian life center.  Hot dogs, chili, cotton candy, snow cones and popcorn were some of the consumables that were provided by the Church.

The first person I encountered was Brian the music minister at that time and an old friend from another church.  He and his mother, brother and sisters were members at Hamlin, where I have spent most of my years since leaving Immanuel.  Brian introduced the entertainment at other events that weekend and was a blessed addition to the church staff.

Mrs. Reese was there and greeted her.  In her nineties she seemed to remember the three Kensinger boys that used to roam the buildings during Sunday School, R.A.’s and Vacation Bible School. She has since gone to Heaven. Debbie, Robert, Jack, Vickie and Gary were still there to reminisce about years gone by and times, both good and bad, that were shared.

Sam, Barbara, Dona, Theresa, and Jacob were some former members that were attending and enjoyed photos that were provided by the current membership as well as some they and others brought. 

Life at Immanuel in the sixties and seventies was not always roses. There were a few thorns that surfaced in my mind. The vote of confidence against pastor Short that ended his ministry there, the group that left and started Orchard Crest Baptist Church, another split that formed First Baptist of Battlefield, and the firing of Brother Hamilton.

A positive was meeting Cindy in the old youth building. I was called to the ministry shortly before we met. My decision to attend Southwest Baptist College was made while a member there.

Pastor Clyde Leonard and his family were instrumental in mine and Cindy’s lives. Clyde came to see me with Gary and invited me to a college and career class he taught. I had rejected the church after Brother Hamilton left. I know the leadership thought they had good reasons each time a minister left.

For over forty years I have watched similar situations at Hamlin and voiced my two cents worth when I thought I should. We have never had a split. At least one previous pastor started a new work after leaving us. Many of the founding members of that church came from our congregation.

How long has your ecclesia been praising the Lord and ministering to your communities? Hopefully, you will someday have a hundred years to remember and celebrate as well. Send me an invitation and I’ll try to be there.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger