Church office reflects experiences of retired minister
The Morrisville and Preston Progress, Thursday, September 26,1996 - 3
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By Roxanne Powers
If you were loAing to make a
quick appraisal of Good Hope Bap
tist Church’s recently retired
Reverend Robert L. Weath^spoon
Jr. (better known to bis neighbors
and parishioners as Bobby), you
should have checked his former of
fice.
Aft» all, out of 40 years service
as a minister, be spent his last 25 at
the Carpenter church. And as
rooms have a way of doing, this
one seemed to have taken on his
persona during that quarter of a
century. It was a simple, almost
humble kind of room that seemed
to have little value for material pos
sessions.
The few exceptions were what
^)peared to be an over-sized silver
tea SCTvice placed in a plexi-glass
fronted wooden case mounted to
the wall. When asked about it, Rev.
Weatherspoon’s expression seemed
to soften. He reached up to remove
the pieces, and with a gentle strc^e
across the surface of the pitcher, be
spoke as if talking of an old friend.
"Do you know what this is? Have
you heard the story on this set?
These are ‘common cups’ or gob
lets and the matching pitcher that
were once used in this church for
communion. They were found by
Joella HortOT...in her attic, I think;
no one knows for sure how old this
set is, but it is speculated that it
dates back to the church’s begin
ning. Look here at the engraving
[Good Hope Baptist Church].
When it was initially recovered, it
was so tarnished you couldn’t even
tell that it bad the engraving on it.
We were all so excited when it was
recovered...to know that it was
back where it belonged. Grover
Lewter built this case for it."
Also in fx-ominent positions on
his office wall were three photog-
r^hs. One was of a man who, as I
pointed out, speared to be stand-
Duke grid coach’s wife
not realty home alone
Continued from page 1
Clay had graduated, he called and
asked if he’d like to be a graduate
assistant at Duke.
"Clay and I were married in
February 1995 and we had two
weekends to choose to sandwich
in between player signing dead
lines and spring football. But it
all went wonderfully."
And what about hfe as the wife
of a college football coach?
"It’s great," she said. "Although
Clay works seven days a wedc,
it’s not like being left alone. The
wives interact. My best friend is
Laura DeForest, who lives
nearby. Her husband Joe is spe
cial teams coach at Duke. We all
go out together, and the wives
can eat at the team training table,
and when we go to the games
we’re able to sit in one of the of
fices of the press box. We help
with recruiting by talking with
parents and explaining the pro
grams. I feel very much a part of
the whole process, and not having
any children makes it easier for
me to make time. And what more
can I say ... it’s Duke ... which
means respectability."
She and Clay did have plenty of
time together when they enjoyed
a lengthy summer vacation fish
ing and relaxing with Clay’s
grandparents in Everglades, Fla.
Clay’s grandfather, George
Turner, played pro football for
the Philadelphia Eagles.
Angela graduated from Houston
with a degree in marketing and
worked for a time in hotel sales in
Durham, where the couple lived
before coming to Preston. She
currently works at the Toy Chest
in Preston.
"Clay’s degree is in math and
interdisciplinary science,” she
noted. I say he would have been
wonderful with a career in
science, but he says he would
have been miserable."
Meanwhile, Clay Helton con
tinues his around-the-clock
schedule as a coach. It is a profes
sion of peaks and valleys.
After Duke’s loss in its home
opener against Northwestern,
Angela waited outside the locker
room. "This isn't the best time to
see Clay," she said.
The running backs coach
emerged after 20 minutes with his
players. He was clearly dis
appointed, but he smiled when he
looked at Angela.
ing in front of a life-sized photog
raph of the b^tismal.
"That’s right," Rev. Weather-
spoon nodded. "That’s exactly what
that is. That is a photograph of my
Uncle Jules Hirscb, who was an
artist living in New York. One
year, not long after this building
was finished, I caught him standing
in front of the quite bare baptismal,
and he inquir^ what we were
going to do with it I told him that
the plan was to hire someone to
paint a mural of the Nile. When
they got back home, he called and
said that he had done some re
search, and found that with the ex
ception of one very small stretch,
the Nile was a quite unattractive
river. He said that he would like to
paint the mural based on that bit of
the Nile and give it as a gift to the
church. So when he died, and my
aunt asked if 1 had any requests for
any of his belongings, I naturally
asked for this photogr^b and was
very pleased that she saw fit to give
it to me."
If visiting Rev. WeathCTSpoon in
his church office was reveling of
his personality, listening to him
speak of his family is even more
telling. He seems to get great en
joyment from telling the story of
the first time he laid eyes on wife
Jackie, who also retired from her
position as the church’s choir direc
tor.
"She was just this cute little girl
in pigtails...just the cutest little
thing. Of course, a few years later I
didn’t see her quite that way," he
said with a chuckle.
Rev. Weatherspoon, who is now
hving in Hillsborough after retiring
in late August, also speaks fre
quently and with great affection of
his four children, Jennifer, Bob,
Amanda and Bill, and his five
grandchildren (another is on the
way). One favorite story is about
his son. Bill, who, when in
elementary school, was asked what
it was like to be the son of a minist
er, and Bill responded, "Well, to
me he’s just a regular dad."
One can’t help but feel that Rev.
Weatherspoon had the same per
sonal qu^ities in 1956, when be
first preached at (jood Hope B^-
tist Church as a recent gradu^ of
Wake Forest College and a newly-
enrolled student at Southeastern
Baptist Theological Seminary. He
is a humble and introspective man
whose philosophy in life, as well as
his ministry, has been laced with
analogies and gentleness...and an
eagerness to participate with good
humor, even when the joke is on
him.
It was a Imighable situation in
1957 when Rev. Weatherspoon,
then a newlywed, acquired some
pullets. Bom and raised in Durham,
this "city boy" proudly built a
chicken pen, nourished the pullets,
and eagerly awaited the day they
would begin to lay eggs. When that
day arrived, he began to joyfully
report their progress almost dily to
anyone who would listen. After a
while, some of his bens began to
lay not one, but two eggs a day.
After a few days, he became
suspicious and parked himself by a
window, where he watched the hen
house through a crack in the
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plied on the pages could improve
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curtains. Sure enough, along came
good friend and prankster Busby
Ennis with a basket full of eggs.
The young seminary student quietly
stepped outside and into Busby’s
path. Says Rev. Weatherspoon
today, "Busby just grinned and
said, ‘Well, preacher, you sure
can’t get me for stealing.”’
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