My Daddy

James Edward Spencer was born on February 17, 1910. (See more about his family at the end of this Blog post).  

Maybe I should start with how my mom and dad met. My Grandmother Ramsey died when my mom was 13 years old. Some of her older brothers and sisters had already married so the remaining children went to live with their older brothers and sister. My Mom went to live with her brother Paul and his wife Ella. They lived down in the North Hills area. That is where my dad lived. Dad had some cousins that were going to Forestdale United Brethren Church and my dad went with them and that is where he met my mom. 

My Mom and Dad married on March 16, 1929. Mom was 16 and Dad was 19. Mama and Daddy moved to a house on Oak Hill Avenue that I understand was owned by my Papa Spencer.   Daddy and Mama used to walk from there to where Granny and Papa Spencer lived in the North Hills area and the street is now named Spencer Street. I remember Mama said that she used to see in the windows of other houses when they were walking, and she would admire their lamps in the windows and hoped that one day she would have one. 

Daddy used to walk from Oak Hill Avenue to his job at Albers Drug Company in downtown Knoxville. He would walk the railroad track. He used to tell us they were so poor and his shoes soles so thin that he could step on a dime and tell whether it was heads or tails. My mom would just say "now Edd". 

They didn't have a lot in material things but had a lot of love. While they were living in town their four older children were born. John, June, Phyllis, and Jim. At the time I am writing this John and Jim have both passed away. 

June and Phyllis could probably tell you some stories of when they lived on Oak Hill Avenue but that was before I was born so I have no memories of that time.  While living on Oak Hill Avenue they attended Grove City Baptist Church. I think even at that time Dad was feeling the call to preach so he decided to move to the country to get away from everything. So, they moved to Edmondson Road in 1941 and lived there until they both moved to Heaven. Dad in 1972 and Mom in 1992. 

After they moved to Edmondson Road they had four more children, Sue, Bill, Mary, and Ron.  Dad was still driving to Grove City for church because there was not a church in the immediate area. There was a widow named Bertha Lansden that lived at the end of Edmondson Road, and she had several children and Dad would take them all to church. So, they begin to look for somewhere to have a church. Dads’ cousin Ernest Warwick moved next door and he was a Preacher. So, they found an abandoned church that belonged to the Methodist over on Murphy Road. They got permission from the Methodist to use their church. It had been empty for a long time and had a lot of filth in it.  My Mom and the Widow Lansden took buckets of water and went and cleaned until the church was able to be used. Finally, the church was ready, and Ernest Warwick preached, and my dad taught Sunday School. The church began to grow, and they were having around 40 people and the Methodist decided they wanted the church back. They were developing the area close to where Mom and Dad had moved to, and it was called Highland Homesites. Mr. J.C. Cameron that was the owner or developer said he would give the land for a church on Babelay Road. There was a couple by the name of Davis that lived on Babelay Road that had been coming to the church, so they all met at their house and established Babelay Road Baptist Church. In their first business session they changed the name of the church to Highland Missionary Baptist. This was in 1942. (To read more about the establishment of Highland go to my Blog Highland Baptist Church.) 

My Dad answered to the call to preach, and he prayed and told the Lord he would preach if he had to stand on a stump and preach to two sticks.  Dad had a very successful ministry at Highland and after 5 years was called to pastor House Mountain Church and was there 2 years and then back to Highland Baptist for 4 more years. After that he helped establish North Acres Baptist Church and was Pastor there for 18 years before his death in 1972. 

My Dad was a hardworking man and not only had a full-time job at Albers Drug Company but also, he was full time Pastor. I say full time because he preached all services and did all the Hospital visiting, preached funerals, held tent revivals etc. I always remember my dad wearing a white shirt and a suit with a Bible under his arm. I also remember a lot of his sermons as he was a very dramatic preacher acting out a lot of his sermons. Dad preached a lot of tent revivals. (To read about a lot of his sermons go to my Blog that says Tent Revivals.)  I remember him walking the church benches at church. 

I remember dad smoking and throwing his cigarettes out the window coming up Edmondson Road and later going back to hunt them. When attempting to quit smoking he would dip snuff. One Christmas James and I went to Sears and bought him a Spittoon to use. 

I remember dad sitting in his favorite place at the table which was at the head of the table where he could look out the windows. It was sitting there that he looked out the window and saw the egg laying in the yard. This was after he asked Mom to make a Chocolate Pie and she told him she would, but she didn't have any eggs. He was sitting looking out the window when he said Conilee come watch me. He went out to the yard that he had been looking out the window and there in the yard was an egg. We did not have any chickens. The neighbors on one side had red chickens and across the road they had white chickens and this egg was speckled. So not knowing who it belonged to Dad got his Chocolate Pie. 

One of my dad’s favorite foods was the rolls at Kresse's. Working downtown he could go there and eat rolls at lunchtime. Sometimes that is all he would eat. If he didn't go to Kresse's he would go to the S&W Cafeteria for lunch. I went with him a few times after I graduated and was working at Kay Jewelers on Gay Street, and he would go in and the first thing he did was step on that big scale they had and weigh himself. He never weighed over 147 pounds.  

I remember my dad sitting in the recliner watching All in The Family. I remember him standing at the kitchen sink shaving in the little mirror. I remember how exciting he would get on election nights. We would always have an election party. 

I am sure some of you remember the Baptisms that we would have. I remember one time at House Mountain he was baptizing Mary Brooks (Herbert Brooks daughter, Martha Brooks sister) and she pulled him down into the water with her. 

Another of my good memories was when dad would take us to the Gallo to get ice cream. I am sure my brothers and sisters remember when he would take us to Cas Walkers on Magnolia Avenue after church on Wednesday nights (that's when he would get paid at Church) and we would get boiled ham and a big pickle. Then we would go just up the street to Krispy Kreme and get donuts. We would all go home and enjoy a sandwich and donut. June, Onloe, and their kids would come too. 

When Dad would get paid at work, he would get the groceries. He traveled Magnolia Avenue on his way to and from work so he would stop at Cas Walkers, A&P and White Store. We always looked forward to fish sticks when he got paid at work. With 8 kids we always just lived payday to payday. 

Dad also like to sing and had a good bass voice and sang in a quartet we had at church. Dad did not spare the rod. We often got a 'whipping' with his belt. I will have to say some more than others.  

In the Fall of 1972 Dad began to have some problems. His stomach enlarged and he was having some pain. He also was having some problems with balance and fell one church service as he was going up the steps to the pulpit. Dad was not one to go to the doctor until he had no other choice. So, he went to the doctor, and he was diagnosed with Lymphoma. They did surgery and if I remember correctly, it was in September. They found an enormous tumor in his spleen. They actually sent his spleen to the Army hospital in Washington for further study. The Lymphoma had already spread to the lymph nodes in his back and other places. They talked about treatment, but it never happened. Dad begin to lose a lot of weight and when he died on December 17th of the same year, he only weighed 65 pounds. 

All Dad wanted to be remembered for was being 'a little country Preacher'.  Dad was not one to show a lot of affection. My Dad gave me away at my wedding. He wouldn't marry any of his children.  I do not ever remember a time that Dad actually told me he loved me but that has never bothered me. Dad was not one to demonstrate his love, but I never had one doubt that my dad loved me, and I loved him. It has now been 48 years since my Dad passed away but there are still some people that remember his sermons and nothing makes me more proud than when someone says "I remember when Preacher Spencer preached on _____________ or Preacher Spencer married us _____________ or I was saved at one of the services he preached _________________."

More about Daddy's family: Papa and Granny Spencer

My daddy was born February 17, 1910, to Horace David Spencer and Etha Iona Warwick Spencer. I am not sure, but I think he was born in Grainger, County, TN. He was one of nine children falling 2nd in the order. His sister Arpie was the oldest then Daddy, Ann, Bill, Ruth, Jack, Luke, Marie and Hughell. 

Daddy never talked a lot about is childhood. I know they had a farm in Grainger, County and he used to talk about going up on the hillside and rounding up the cows. I think Papa's family lived there because I have heard others talk about the Spencer sisters from Grainger, County. I wish I had asked daddy more about his family and childhood, but I didn't. 

After moving to Knoxville his dad was a railroad worker. From what I have been told he drank a lot and was a stern disciplinarian. We did not go to Papa's and Granny's house a lot when I was a child. I think there was several reasons because others in the family had an entirely different relationship with them than my family did. I think first of all it was because there were so many of us. There were 8 kids in our family where the others only had two or three except for Luke and I think he had 5. My daddy not only worked a full-time job but pastored a church full time and held a lot of revivals and he didn't have a lot of time to visit. But we rarely went to their house and when we did, we usually sat on the porch. 

Also, for most of the time we lived in the 'country'. I don't remember Papa ever coming to our house.  Granny may have come but I don't remember her coming. She did come to the church that my dad Pastored at times. I do remember one time that she came she told me she hoped I had grandchildren that treated me like I treated her. I knew what she meant because she had other grandchildren that would hug and love on her, but she did not have that kind of relationship with me and my brothers and sisters. She did send me birthday cards at times, and she would always say ' to my only Iona'.  I had another cousin that was named Ione, but Granny spelled her name Iona and that is the way mine was spelled. She also came to my wedding.  

You may wonder why I am covering my Papa and Granny in my daddy's blog, but this is the only memories I have of them. I remember when my Papa died March 5, 1945, his body was at the home place, and they held me up over the casket to see him. I had just turned 5 years old.  I also remember my daddy standing in the kitchen crying when his dad died. I remember more about my Granny over the next years when I was older and going to see her more when she lived with Aunt Arpie and attending some of the reunions that we had. My granny died in 1966 at 78 years of age. Today as I write this all of Dad's brothers and sisters have passed.