COMMUNITIES WITHIN COMMUNITIES

BY: Michael A. Aun, FIC, LUTCF, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame

My dear friend, Emory Austin, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, is a professional speaker who is fond of speaking about the dynamics of a community, and not just the community in which you live but the communities within the community.

These are the churches, the professional associations of which we are a part and even your gym group that gets together once a quarter, as mine does, to celebrate that quarter's birthdays. For many people, their church community is the one place they can go and be unconditionally accepted. I recently got a gift in the mail from Katherine Wingard Liverman, the wife of the late Dr. James S. Liverman. Katherine served as Doc's nurse for decades. He brought me and most of my ten brothers and sisters into this world along with thousands of others in the community of Lexington, South Carolina.

The precious gift that Katherine mailed me was a book on the Legacies of St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in Lexington, S.C. I have many fond memories of St. Stephen's.

As a child, I belonged to both the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in Troop 306, sponsored by St. Stephen's. I spent many hours in the Lutheran Church Hut next to the church itself and even served as a Scoutmaster myself for my own sons who started their scouting career there as well.

As an adult, I've attended weddings and funerals at St. Stephen's. The most recent were the funerals of Rev. Otto Reenstjerna and my high school football coach, J.W. Ingram, who I had the privilege of Eulogizing.

I've always felt at home at St. Stephen's. I was not a member there but I always felt so welcome within those friendly confines. My grandfather, Elias S. Mack, Sr. was a member as well as his children. My uncle, Arthur Mack, remains an active member of the congregation even today.

Katherine Liverman wrote me a sweet note about the final year of my grandfather's life. A gentleman came to his door and asked my Aunt Olga if he could see Mr. Mack. Thinking the man was a salesman, my aunt explained that he was very sick and was not seeing anyone. The gentleman said "My name is Pastor Poole and I am his new minister."

I actually remember that visit very well because I used to sit in my grandfather's bed room and do his "running" for him for food, drinks and to change the channels on the television set.

There were only a couple three channels in those days, so the choices were simple. My grandfather, who I called Jiddo, an Arabic word for grandfather, hated commercials. He would have me turn the television off for two minutes and then turn it back on because he detested the commercials. But those old television sets took five minutes to warm up, so I finally convinced him just to turn it down until the commercial was over.

When Pastor Poole visited, it turned out to be one of the final times he would see my Jiddo alive. When he died on August 7, 1960, I was not allowed to be there with him and I was not allowed to go to his funeral either. Children were not permitted at funerals in those days.

My granddaddy lived right next door to our home on South Lake Drive in Lexington. I remember looking out my bedroom window as they came to collect his casket after the wake to take him to his final resting place in St. Stephen's Cemetery on Church Street. I remember thinking that I would never deny my children or grandchildren a chance to say goodbye to a loved one.

My grandfather was an integral part of St. Stephen's Lutheran Church over the years. Many big fires occurred in Lexington over the years. My grandfather actually purchased the bell that they rang to alert the citizens about a fire. That bell, according to the church memoirs, rang for the last time on April 29, 1938. Both the Town Hall and the old jail were dismantled shortly thereafter, preparatory to erecting the new Courthouse.

My grandfather as well as his son, Elias S. Mack, Jr., both did a tour of duty as Mayor of Lexington. Jiddo was elected Mayor November 10, 1947, exactly 40 years to the day before his son would assume the role.

While South Carolina is predominantly Baptist, there was a large German community that settled in the midlands of South Carolina and most was Lutheran. The co-authors of this terrific book, Kathryn Wingard Liverman and Melba Price Shealy, have done a magnificent job in chronicling the history of both Lexington and St. Stephen's Lutheran Church. Does your church and community have such a journal? If not, it should.