How did I end up in the Navy?

Isn't she beautiful! This is my first duty assignment in the Navy, the USS Ingersoll. I served aboard this ship (my first tour of duty) from April 1961 to April 1063. I made two cruises to Westpac and one to Panama (during the Cuban Missile Crisis). But, this doesn't answer the question. I need to go back a number of years to say how I ended up in the Navy -- in my story, running away from God and ending up in the Belly of the Whale.

As I have stated before, I knew that God had called me into the ministry while still in High School. Not only did God really want me in the ministry, my mother wanted me to go into the ministry. I wanted to be a medical doctor. Then there was my violin teacher who wanted me to be a violinist and my voice teacher who wanted me to be a singer. I really didn't want to be a pastor. But, why the Navy?

Even though I was always a reader, I never had a library card until me moved to Bellflower -- and stayed there. I was ten years old and I found the library so exciting. So many books! I could take them home with me! I liked novels that were filled with adventure. I quickly became interested in books about the sea. I liked reading about sailing ships, pirates, old sea battles and of course ships involved in WWII. I never really considered going to sea myself but loved the romance of the sea. 

When I was in high school I read The Caine Mutiny. I loved the book. I wrote a term paper on it while in high school and two papers for English classes when at UCLA. I didn't always get an A on my term papers -- but my passion about this book seemed to work. All three of these papers received an A grade. The book takes place on a Destroyer type vessel in WWII. I could imagine myself as an officer on the bridge of such a vessel. That is partly why I was so excited to receive orders to the Ingersoll. I re-read the book when I got to the ship. I do need to state, that I didn't take part in any mutiny -- but it was a dream realized.

So, even though I never considered the Navy while growing up, even though I was called into the ministry and even though I wanted to be a doctor, I ended up in the Navy. I will actually begin to answer the question  of how this happened in the next installment.

Back to the FBC of Bellflower -- School

I have written some good things about FBC Bellflower and some bad things. In spite of some failings, it was a good church. Belonging there was certainly a positive experience for me. I wrote several months ago that the church was the focus of my social life. I did have friends at school (once we settled down in Bellflower), but my closest friends were part of the church group even though some of them were also in school with me. 

My father left the family when I was in Jr. High. I began to "act out" in school and wanted to avoid church. I did go to Sunday School and Worship, because my mother took me. But, I had no desire to go to BYF, or Baptist Youth Fellowship. This group which was divided into Jr and Sr. High School groups, met on Guday Evening. If my mother wasn't around, I would just stay home. By this time we had a TV and there were a lot of old movies that I enjoyed. But, my mother kept insisting and I finally gave in. The other kids were nice to me, but I didn't really know them. I guess that one of my first friends was a girl named Eleanor Carper who was pretty, smart and very friendly. This had nothing to do with romance since that was the farthest thing from my mind in those days, at least at church. Of course, I did marry Eleanor's sister a few years later. 

I guess I should digress and discuss my horrible Jr. High School experiences. Even though I had traveled around and went to a lot of schools, I was a good student and had done well. Even when I started attending Washington Jr. High, I continued to be a good student. As I had mentioned in a previous posting, it was here that I found out that I could sing. I was also in the school orchestra and it was here that I found another friend, Richard Gaylor who like me had recently been abandoned by his father. We were very bad influences on each other. Most of our behavior was just silly, but my academics really began to suffer, but I did make it through the Seventh Grade -- barely!

Richard and I didn't see much of each other during the Summer, but when Eighth Grade started, our reputation preceded us. The first day of school, both of us were called into the Principal's office where we were told in no uncertain terms that he wasn't  going to put up with our silly behavior this year. Well, that settled it, Richard and I immediately re-established our friendship and began our normal disruptive behavior. Mr. Groeling, our home room teacher, worked very hard to help us. He did nice things for both of us, even on two occasions taking us on weekend trips with his family. I think that both of us did really love him. I still have such fond memories of him, but it didn't change our behavior. At one point, Richard and I broke into the classroom and went through his desk. We discovered a very thick file with nothing but little notes, "Today Richard and Richard did . . ." We thought it was funny. We were so unfeeling toward a wonderful teacher. 

In the meantime at church I made two other friends that would change my life; Wayne Hopson and Don Hamilton. Wayne was such a good friend. He and I talked about our future. He wasn't the student that I was, but he was more grounded in life than I was even though his dad had also abandoned him. He and I mutually helped one another to become more serious about our Christian faith. 

My friendship with Don was similar (in fact, all three of us were friends together), but there was more to my friendship with Don. I had mentioned earlier that I was involved with the Youth Temperance Council. Don's mother was active in this movement, so Don and I went to a number of retreats and camps sponsored by the YTC. Unfortunately, Don's mother had some rather serious mental/emotional problems. Because of this, Don ended up staying with my mother and I periodically. These stays were for extended periods of time. This continued  all of the way through High School. Because of this, Don was more like a brother at that time. Don was a good student. He and I both really hoped to go to college. I remember a talk we had shortly before beginning High School. We decided that this was the real thing, so if we wanted to go to a good college, we needed to settle down and get good grades. He and I both ended up in the top five of our graduating class. He graduated from UC Berkeley and I graduated from UCLA. Isn't it interesting that two Jr High School kids could make a decision one day -- and follow through. Don was a good friend. 

Who I See when I Think of the Ideal Pastor

I was baptized at First Baptist Church of Bellflower in the spring of 1948, shortly before my 11th birthday, by Rev. Ernest Hasselblad -- everyone just called him Ernie. He was a red-headed Swede. He was educated at Bethel College and Seminary in Minneapolis/St. Paul. I thought he was a pretty old man, but as I checked my Google today, I find that he was only in his mid forties. My, how perspective changes when a person gets a little older. Yes, Ernie was my ideal of a pastor and he helped to keep me out of that belly of a whale for my teen years. Why was he my ideal? Well, here is my perception of him.

There are two basic stories that contribute to my picture of pastor Hasselblad. First, was the state of my family. It was either late 1950 or early 1951 when my dad left home. It was a very traumatic action. My mother was devastated. For months, she really did nothing. Many times I would come home from school and find her laying on the floor and crying. I didn't know what to do. We didn't eat at home during these months, but went out to eat every evening. We did have the finances to do this at the time because my dad was providing for us. Even though I didn't understand what was happening, it was the ministry of Ernie and the rest of the church that began to bring healing into my mother's life. When my dad's financial generosity began to dry up, mom needed work. She tried working in retail, but this was rough on her -- then she was offered the job of pastor's secretary at the church. She made the princely sum of $40 per week. Not awful for the time, but not really enough even then. She really loved the Hasselblads. They were a very caring family. 

Now, back to Bellflower in the early 1950's. One other important person in the story of my admiration of Ernie Hasselblad must be introduced; Wayne Hopson. Wayne was one of my best friends. We met at the church., Our mothers were friends and both Wayne and I had fathers that deserted us. We didn't really know it but we really missed having fathers. This is where Ernie comes in. When things would happen to us (and they seemed to on a regular basis), we were always reluctant to call our mothers. We would always call Ernie and he always took care of us. I will never forget this. 

You are probably wondering what kind of thing I mean -- no we didn't need to get bailed out of jail, it was much simpler -- but just as intrusive to his life. Wayne and I didn't have our own cars, we had to drive our mother's cars. They were older and unreliable. They did break down occasionally (we also ran out of gas occasionally -- after all gas was 20 cents a gallon). When this would happen -- Ernie to the rescue. I also have to explain a little of the history of the LA area in those days. There were no storm drains. The streets were the storm drains. Major intersections were always completely flooded. The street on which I lived would be water from front porch across the street to our front porch -- you couldn't see the road, curbs or sidewalks. Driving was an adventure. When you went through a flooded intersection, you shifted into low gear, kept one foot on the clutch and raced the engine -- to keep it from stalling. Once you were through that intersection, you kept one foot on the brakes to dry them out before going through the next one. Sometimes, you got flooded out! I remember one night leaving Wayne in the car, flooded out, and hiking to Ernie's house. He came out in the rain -- pushed our car to a safe place and got us home. Not in a normal pastor's job description.

I don't remember whether his preaching was good or not. I certainly don't know whether he was a good administrator or not. Counseling skills? I don't know. I do know that he was a man who cared for a couple of teenage boys without fathers that got into jams and didn't know what to do. I thought then that this was the kind of man I wanted to be when I grew up.When I became a pastor, I remembered Ernie Hasselblad, and said to myself that this was the kind of pastor I want to be. I still want to be that kind of man. 

When the Music Fades

Things were going so well for me in many ways back in the late 1950s. I have been writing about music and I still have one more story. It started in late 1958 or early 1959. I was a senior at UCLA but was home in order to sing at a special banquet for the youth at FBC Bellflower. The guest speaker was an evangelist, Ken Poure. Some of you may have experienced a week at Hume Lake -- Ken for many years was the director of that conference -- but that was far in the future. Ken brought his music man, George, with him. After I sang, Ken and George said that they would like me to be a part of a group that they were forming. That sounded good to me.

The group was called the Accenters. There were eight of us, four women and four men. Most were students at Biola. At this time, Biola had no campus and met at "The Church of the Open Door" in downtown LA. The group was to be available to sing at Ken's evangelistic campaigns (as a group, small sub-groups, or soloists.) Ken was also starting a half-hour radio show, Accent on Youth, and we were to be the music for this show. George was a little more ambitious, so we also became involved with Youth for Christ which was very active throughout the Southern California area at that time. We mostly sang on Saturdays in Orange County, but we also performed in LA and San Diego. We became a regular group, doing our own music as well as providing back up for visiting musicians. In addition to the Youth for Christ circuit, we performed at churches, festivals and competitions. This was a real neat experience, the group was good! But underneath I was falling apart.

I never lost my faith. I don't ever remember doubting Jesus. I loved him, but somehow he didn't seem real or relevant to my life. I was desperate to fit in with whatever group I was with. If I was with the church crowd, I was religious, with the drunks, I was drunk. One of the funny things was that people saw me as a leader -- but all I saw was this attempt to make people like me. It was at this point that I became so hypocritical and really jaundiced with the music scene -- I could be drunk on Friday and then appear at Youth for Christ on Saturday and proclaim the power of the Lord in my life! I was a fake. I might also say the I was disappointed in much of the Christian Music crowd. We were with a lot of "names" at the time. There were two types; Wonderful Christian people who really loved the Lord and lived it -- and those who couldn't make it in the "real" music world and began to sing Christian music. I guess at this time I was in the second group. I will also add that I had recently been unceremoniously dumped by a girl that I really loved. I was a mess.

Then came the icing on the cake. George, the leader, was an older man (probably 30, but remember I was only in my early 20s) and was married with 5 children. In early 1960, his wife became pregnant and George got a roving eye. Our piano player was a very cute, very talented 17 year old. George liked her but there was no way that he could date her. Well, even though I was much older than her, her parents thought that the sun rose and set in me. So I began to date her -- or so they thought. I was just picking her up for George. This went on for a couple of months and then I got a call from the Lynwood, CA police department. They wanted me to come and talk with them. It was there that I had a very strained meeting with her parents (who no longer thought that the sun rose and set in me). I spent a lovely evening being grilled by the police who were trying to pin a statutory rape charge on George. I was devastated. What had I done? This isn't the kind of person I am! It was after this that I had to face Ken Poure -- he was so disappointed in me. But the hardest person at all for me to face was myself. My mother never knew this. I don't think that any of the people at the church did either, but the fun of music was gone.

I didn't leave for the Navy until October of 1960. I continued to be involved with the young people at FBC. I also continued to sing, but my heart wasn't in it. Then when I entered the military, the song came to an end. I didn't sing again until 1967 when I came to FBC Chula Vista. As for my violin. . . The music was over. I no longer had a song to sing. I was rapidly entering the Belly of the Whale. 

More on Music as a Source of both Spiritual and Social Development in my Life

I expect this to be the first of two posts about music in my life before returning to a discussion of my spiritual development at FBC Bellflower. My continued growth in music continues both at Bellflower and at UCLA and they are really intertwined. A key to this whole issue was the hiring of a new Choir Director at the church. His name was Ralph Freese (sp). He was not the youth choir director, he was the Adult Choir Director. He was also a voice teacher. My mom and I thought that it would be good to start voice lessons from him. I am not sure whether this was in my senior year at Bellflower High School or my freshman year at UCLA. I could continue lessons because I didn't live on campus my freshman year, but commuted.

Mr. Freese started me doing some serious singing. When I say serious, I just mean that I was learning to sing correctly and use my voice effectively. Was it all opera? No, although I did some opera. I sang serious church songs, Broadway, German Lieder and some pop songs. Basically, I just learned to sing. I loved it! He also helped me at UCLA. In my freshman year I was lost. UCLA was so large! I don't think I would have made it if it hadn't been for my friend John -- he was not shy and there were no strangers to him. I was a tag-along. That year we commuted and I was still very involved at the church -- weekends and even some evenings. But, I was really lost when we moved up to school in my sophomore year. I wanted to do some music. I went to the auditions for the A Capella Choir but quickly backed out after watching someone else audition. The director was Roger Wagner (who was also director of a rather famous group at the time -- the Roger Wagner Chorale). He started yelling at the person auditioning because they missed a b flat while sight reading a musical score. I said to myself, "I can't do that. Let's get out of here." I did.

In my sophomore year, I did become a member of the Men's Glee Club. This was a lot of fun. Our big event was when we were a part of the program for the Sport's Illustrated Athlete of the Year Presentation. Rafer Johnson, who was President of the UCLA student body was the athlete. He won the decathlon at the Olympics that year. I remember that Danny Thomas was the Master of Ceremonies. Those of us in the Glee Club got to mix in with the celebrities -- really neat. Most were athletes, but some were also movie stars. I was quite taken with Esther Williams (you have to be real old to remember her -- beautiful -- a swimmer -- and a star.) That was the first time that I ever ate Filet Mignon. This was a big event (for me.) This was my only musical involvement until my Junior year.

Then, in my Junior year, I received an invitation to attend a "rush" party for some fraternity (Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia) at a home in Beverly Hills. I had no idea what this was, but it sounded good, so I borrowed the MG from one of my room mates and went to the party. To make a long story short, I was asked to pledge the fraternity and later that year became a full member. It was a professional, music honorary fraternity. I looked it up on Wikipedia a few minutes ago, lots of famous people were and are members -- I began to wonder how I had been picked for this group -- all of the others in my chapter were music majors! Then I remembered Mr. Freese -- he was a friend of the academic sponsor of the group.

Membership in the fraternity opened many doors for using and developing my music even though I was a premed rather that music major. I sang in a number of groups, played in string quartets -- and performed in many venues. One of the neatest events was the UCLA Spring Sing that year. This was an event for fraternity's, sorority's and other clubs to put together a musical performance as a competition. We held the event at the Hollywood Bowl. That year we one the sweepstakes award as the best group in the competition. We performed along with our sister sorority, Mu Phi Epsilon (for any Chula Vista people, Becky Schoultz was a Mu Phi Epsilon.)

One other thing that helped me in my music was that I became a Wedding Singer. FBC Bellflower was THE church for weddings at that time. My mom was the wedding coordinator. She would always ask who they had to sing. If they had no one, she would give them my name. At first, I was always unsure of myself when asked, "How much do you charge?" Mom said if I sold myself too cheaply that no one would want me. I finally began to feel comfortable asking for $50. Guess what, the word got around and I began to get invited to sing at other venues also. By the way, $50 was the tuition for a semester at UCLA (and included football tickets -- even the Rose Bowl), gas was $0.18-0.21 per gallon and as a union worker at the Ford Automotive Assembly Plant (in the summer), I made $2.10 an hour. What I am saying is the $50 was a goodly sum of money in those days. But, this is how I earned a significant part of my money for school.

Everything about music seemed so positive. Certainly there was no movement toward the Belly of the Whale in this. This saved me and gave me a social life outside of the Bellflower church. But, in my next post, my activity in music starts me on the long slide into the abyss -- the Belly of the Whale.

Music as a Major Part of my High School years at FBC Bellflower

The picture is of Jester Hairston who intersected my life as described below.

Throughout my teen years, the church was the center of my life; social, emotional and spiritual. But, the center of the life at the church was music; singing. I mentioned in an earlier post that we had moved around a lot. I was quite shy. The abandonment by my father left me with very little confidence. It was my success in music that provided the confidence and social contacts that made high school a good experience for me. Once I started back to the Lord -- moving out of the Belly of the Whale -- that music again came to my rescue and gave me a place to start serving the Lord.

Sometime in my Sophomore year, a group began to gather on Saturday mornings to sing, with a view to performing in church. There weren't more than five or six who came. I don't know whether some of us decided to do this or that it was an "official" meeting. I do remember the piano player; Anita (Tex) -- a pretty blond girl who had a beautiful voice -- and played the piano. She and I gravitated toward one another and began to sing together. I was pretty shy and she seemed to like me. I really don't know how it happened, but she became my girl friend off and on during my high school years -- but that is another story. I think that the only real time that some of us from the group sang together was on a Sunday Night (an informal, youth oriented service) We formed a trio; Anita, Frankie (if you read this Frankie -- was it you or Barbara -- or do you remember this at all?) and me. It didn't go particularly well. As I remember it, we got kind of tickled in the middle of the song and couldn't stop laughing. This was not an auspicious start. It did get me involved in more singing however because the Adult Choir director heard me and invited me to become a part of the Adult Choir. I really enjoyed this because we actually rehearsed and sang in four or more parts. This was really the start of my singing "career." The director began to ask me to sing solos when they came up. I was (and still am) a baritone, bass who really wanted to be a tenor.

At some point around my Junior year Stan Owens began a Youth Choir. I believe that he had just returned from the service -- he was a Korean War vet. His parents were already part of the church -- and I think that Stan had grown up in the church. He was a talent somewhat like my friend Kevin Cope (no, he wasn't a virtuoso pianist)  who had perfect pitch and could hear all of the chords as they should be in his head. He was also really anointed in working with the kids. Now, I should mention that during this time, FBC Bellflower became THE CHURCH for high school kids in the town. We had a large youth group, around 50-75 young people depending on times and seasons. There were approximately 50 in the choir. We had bright red choir robes with a white stole. We sang contemporary music (contemporary in the early 50's). We liked to sing some of the contemporary arrangements of Negro Spirituals. One of the leading black composers of the day who made some of these arrangements was Jester Hairston. He actually came to the church a couple of times and directed us in as we sang his arrangements -- we also learned to clap in rhythm. We also learned to sway -- but I was not very good at it.  I just finished reading Jester Hairston's  bio in Wikipedia -- I am greatly impressed that he actually came to our church and directed our Youth Choir -- I was impressed at the time, but I didn't realize the whole story.

Then there was our quartet! Stan started a quartet and chose Jerry Babylon (Bass), Henry (Sonny) Sellers (Baritone) and me (2nd Tenor -- Lead). Stan sang the first tenor part. Actually we were quite good. We sang mainly Barbershop arrangements and Gospel Quartet. I was the only high school person. Jerry and Sonny were attending California Baptist College (associated with Cal Baptist Seminary.) We had already been singing at several neighboring churches when were invited to go along with some of the informational and fund raising events with Cal Baptist Officials. This led to our selection to be the Cal Baptist Quartet. I attended a number of classes out there while still in HS -- we were preparing for the next event. The officials wanted me to attend the school, but I had my heart set on UCLA (good choice.) We also sang a few times on local TV. This was heady stuff for me, but looking back, we were really small town singers. Yet, it was kind of neat to come into Biology Class and have the teacher say that they saw me on TV last night. We broke up when I started UCLA and Jerry transferred to the Redlands University.

There was a lot more about my life at First Baptist during my high school years, but music played a defining role in who I was and set the stage for my return to the Lord in the 70's.

Another early music story before I return to FBC Bellflower

I have mentioned before that the family moved to Bellflower in the spring of 1948. I accepted the Lord and was baptized at First Baptist Church of Bellflower shortly before my 11th birthday in June of that year. I have also discussed that the church really became the center of my life during my teen years and that music played a large part of my life.

It wasn't long after my family began to attend the church than I was "discovered" and began to perform periodically on my violin. I learned to sing however outside the church. These were the days before TV, so once we obtained a piano, it was not unusual for the family to gather around the piano and sing. When we got together with our cousins we also got around the piano and sang. These were wonderful times!

In 1949, I began Jr. High School, Mrs. Burdick, the music teacher formed a Boy's Glee Club. I didn't really know what a Glee Club was but I knew it involved singing and I thought that would be fun. I still remember our first performance during the Christmas program; Gounod's "Ave Maria." In those days I was a boy soprano and I could do a pretty good High C (for the musically uninitiated -- a real high note.) It wasn't long in that same year the Dr. Charlotte Stevens was starting a boy's chorus for the entire district. Mrs. Burdick sent me over there. After a couple of rehearsals, Dr. Stevens told me that Dr. Whitney of the Whitney Boy's Choir was holding auditions and she had recommended Roger Whistler and me. During the late 20's and 30's this was a first class choir -- several tours to Europe as well as all over the US. This sounded exciting and I auditioned and became a part of the choir. We were active almost every weekend performing somewhere in the Los Angeles area.

The summer of 1950, the choir made a tour of California for about 6 weeks. This was exciting. We sang at service clubs and churches with two to three concerts per day. We stayed in people's homes for the night. I will relate one side story that actually affected me a lot later in life. I would estimate that about 50% of the churches were we performed were Pentecostal; some were very big churches. Almost all of these churches were pastored by flashy bombastic types. After a very very very long sermon, the invitation to come and tarry before the Lord was made. We soon learned that the service was never going to end unless we went forward, accepted the Lord (most of us were already baptized) and got filled with the Spirit. I can't tell you how many times I have faked it. I, along with the rest of the boys, were really turned off by these experiences. Later when I was contemplating joining the First Baptist Church of Chula Vista and I was told that the pastor and the church were involved in the Charismatic Movement and that they did things like speaking in tongues, I really didn't want to attend a church like that. It took a lot of thinking before Linda and I started to attend. We were very tentative in the beginning, but things changed. That is another story.

Doc Whitney was pretty old by the time I started to sing in the choir. He was prone to coughing fits during our performances. He would always tell the joke, "Heh, heh, heh. Sorry about my coughin', but remember, as long as you keep coughin' the can't put you in one." Shortly after our tour, he stopped coughin' and that ended the Whitney Boy's Choir. Singing was already important before I reached my teen years and went through my voice change. This laid the groundwork for what was to come in the music program at FBC Bellflower. 

Music as a part of my Salvation

Music saved me from just being a lonely child. It really gave me a purpose. I mentioned in my last post that I would tell how music and the church saved me. This really did happen during my teen years at FBC Bellflower, but the story started much earlier.

First, let me present a little background. My mother was very musical. She was a trained singer and played the piano very well. After we settled in Bellflower, one of the early purchases was a piano. She always supplemented her income as a piano teacher. When we became a part of the church, she played piano for the church services. Dad wasn't particularly musical, but he did have a pleasant voice and sang in the church choir. Dad was tall -- over 6 feet. He played football in high school and became a semi-pro Heavy Weight boxer during the depression. I was short and squat and not particularly athletic. We spent a lot of time with my dad's cousin and his family. Oscar was short. His son who was a year older than me, was tall and looked like my dad. The big joke was that the babies had been switched at birth. Gene, the cousin basically my age was athletic. When we would get together it was not unusual for dad and Oscar to go out for a round of golf. They always took Gene with them. When I would ask to go I was told to stay home with the women. Obviously I wasn't saved by athletics, it was music that saved me.

When I was eight years old, my mom started to talk to me about learning to play a musical instrument. I thought this would be neat. I was told that I would probably get something for Christmas. "What kind of instrument do you want?"mom asked. "I want a trumpet!" I could see myself in a fancy uniform marching with a band and blowing on my trumpet. Finally Christmas arrived and I had my eye on a fairly long box -- it must be my trumpet. They saved that present to last. I could hardly wait to open it and there it was -- a violin! I was brave and didn't cry but the disappointment was overwhelming. Why did they do that to me? I found out later that part of the reason was that with WW II still on, metal instruments were very expensive. 

Well, I got over my disappointment and found out that I actually learned to love the violin. I took lessons until I was 18 years old. My teacher was so disappointed that I planned to be a pre-med when I started college. This meant that I would stop taking violin lessons.  She wanted me to be a violinist and major in music. I guess I was pretty good, but I was cocky and had made up my own mind that I was going to be a Medical Doctor. I think most 18 year old young people think they knew what was best for them. I certainly thought I did. 

The other thing that happened that helped me in my decision to give up the violin was the discovery that I had a good voice and loved to sing. Incidentally singing bears a strong relationship to playing the violin in that they both are dependent upon hearing. A violin has no frets -- you have to hear it. Of course, you can't sing if you don't hear it. One of the reasons that a lot of singers are off key is that they just don't hear it. Well, I discovered that I could sing, liked to sing, people liked to hear me sing -- and singing is a lot easier than holding a violin under your chin. 

Next post I will go back to FBC Bellflower because they had a wonderful music program and that is what really got me involved in the church and provided me with a social life. 

The First Baptist Church of Bellflower -- Really Saved -- 1

This picture is of Bay View Church -- No picture of Bellflower Available

I mentioned some of the bad things about FBC Bellflower in a couple of postings -- my descent into the Belly of the Whale. But I don't know what my life would be like if it hadn't been for the church. In my title I mentioned salvation and yes, I accepted Jesus and was baptized at FBC Bellflower in 1948; I was 10 (almost 11). My cousins, Gene and Janice also accepted the Lord at the same children's evangelism service. We were baptized by Rev. Ernest Hasselblad. I will talk more about him in a later post. My baptism, not only brought me into the church but my parents also became active in the church. I may have mentioned earlier, but my parents were baptists and met at church. But throughout our years of travel, we went to church very irregularly. 

Both of my parents were there every Sunday. They both sang in the choir. I went to the children's program. I sat on the front row at worship services and I heard from my dad after church if I misbehaved. My dad actually became the Chair of the Building Committee that built the present church building. Then, in the Fall of 1949, when I was in the Seventh Grade, my Father left home. He was infatuated with his secretary. My mother fell apart and I was adrift.

Let me give a little background on my life thus far. I will only give my school years:

• First Grade 
• Galesburg, Illinois
• Oak Ridge, Tennessee
• Oak Ridge, Tennessee -- another school
• Gainesville, Georgia
• Second Grade
• Danville, California (all schools for now on are in California)
• Concord -- an all 8 grades in one room, country school
• Livermore -- same kind of school as above
• Third Grade
• Started at the same Livermore country school
• Livermore -- city school system
• Fourth Grade
• Corona 
• Oceanside
• Corona -- another school
• Fifth Grade
• Compton
• Gardena
• Bellflower -- from then on I was in Bellflower

The point of all this is to say that I didn't have a lot of "life-time" friends. I really didn't know many people from school. Then, as mentioned before, my family fell apart in 1949. I had been a quiet, intelligent child and did well in school. Then (Jr. High is bad enough when things are going well) after dad left, I began to act out in school. I was terrible in Jr. High. I also lost interest in church -- but my mother made me go. She insisted that I go to the Jr. High youth group. I did and something weird happened. They elected me President of the Group! I must admit that it never occurred to me that no one else wanted to do it. I thought I was popular. Then, Eleanor, my wife's sister, was elected as Vice President. We became life-long friends.

The youth group was strong in the church. We had a High School group of around 50 kids. Without the church I would have had no social life. I was not bullied at school and knew a lot of kids, but I didn't hang with them. It was the church that provided me with all of my friends. I was actually popular there. This is what I meant when I said that the church was my salvation. 

In my next posting I will discuss the church and my love for music. 

Bellflower the Friendly City

In my last two posts, I painted a rather negative picture of First Baptist Church of Bellflower and the city itself. What I report was true, but it was only part of the story. I want to correct the impression that I left. In this post I will tell what a great place Bellflower was for me in growing up. My next post will deal with the good side of First Baptist Church.

Bellflower, like many of the cities in California was once a site of old Spanish Land Grant Ranchos. As the Ranchos sold, the buyers bought for primarily agricultural reasons. It wasn't until the early 1920s that Bellflower began to develop a residential area. The impetus for building a residential section was the extension of the Red Car Railroad (Pacific Electric) to Santa Ana. The tracks went through Bellflower and a terminal was built there. The dairy industry began to grow in importance as Dutch families began to settle in the region. My earliest memories of living was there was the "pleasant" aroma of the dairies in the humid, foggy air. During the Fall and Winter, it was foggy a lot. At high school football games, we were sometimes called Smell Flower. It was an apt title. Much of the area that would soon become great shopping malls was all bean fields. It wasn't incorporated as a city until 1957.

One of my early memories brought home to me the importance of the Dutch population. I am not sure what year this was -- probably 1949 or 1950 -- Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands on her visit to the United States visited Holland, Michigan and Bellflower, California. I remember watching the parade down Bellflower Blvd. and seeing the queen waving at the people. In my last post I wrote that the town was very white, and it was, but that was not the whole story; we did have a significant Hispanic population and many Japanese also.

Well, why are my memories so positive? I was raised somewhat like a child of migrant workers for the first 10 years of my life. I was born during depression years and my father traveled to find work. When WWII started, the only construction jobs were for the military, so we traveled where the jobs were. 

• 1937-1941
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Miami, Florida
• Knoxville, Tennessee
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• 1941-Spring 1944
• Franklin, Indiana
• Leesville, Louisiana
• Galesburg, Illinois -- started school
• Oak Ridge, Tennessee
• Gainsville, Georgia -- Finished 1st Grade
• 1944 -- Moved to California
• Concord
• 1945 
• Livermore
• 1946
• Livermore
• Corona
• 1947
• Oceanside
• Corona
• Compton
• Gardena
• April, 1948 -- Finally -- Bellflower

Even though I was born in Cincinnati, Bellflower is my hometown. We finally had an actual house to live in. I mean a house that is more than one room, not a motel, not a trailer -- and it had electricity, running water and indoor plumbing. I lived at 9437 Harvard St. in Bellflower from 1948 until 1960 when I joined the Navy. This is my home of record. Unless you have grown up on the road as I did, I don't think you can understand what being rooted in one place meant to me. I could finally make friends -- and I did. I really love Bellflower. It is the place where I began to grow and flourish.

Bellflower was a quiet place. The population was around 20,000 and growing. I was able to ride my bike anywhere in town. I don't remember any crime there. Of course this was the 50s. For $0.14 you could go to the matinee at the Nubel theater -- double feature, cartoon, newsreel and a serial. Not bad. During the high school years, we used to cruise up and down Bellflower Blvd. We would hang out at the Clock drive in. Even though the film "American Graffiti" takes place in the 60s, this was the 50s in Bellflower. This was my life up until 1955. Then I began to expand my horizons. I moved on campus at UCLA, but Bellflower was still home.

Since I met my wife in Bellflower, my mom lived there, and Linda's parents lived there, we were connected to Bellflower really until their deaths. We began to feel like Chula Vista was home sometime in the late 60s and 70s. 

Another Church Incident on my way Down

The second incident at First Baptist Church in Bellflower that helped me on my way down into the Belly of the Whale actually occurred in 1960, shortly before I joined the Navy. I was in Graduate School at UCLA, but I came home regularly. I was selected as President of the Youth Council -- an over-arching team that oversaw all ages and aspects of our youth group; Jr. Hi through College. I actually functioned as a kind of Assistant Youth Director. One of our programs was an athletic program between churches; flag football, basketball and volleyball. 

We had a winning flag football team was a rousing success because we were able to recruit a number of players from nearby Cerritos Jr. College -- they were the Junior Rose Bowl champions that year. Back in the old days, the local Two Year (Junior) Colleges actually participated in a Rose Bowl game called the Jr. Rose Bowl game. This recruitment of ringers not only helped us to win games, but this was an "evangelistic program." All participants in the game were required to attend church regularly. This seemed like a win-win situation to me.

The problem came when Basketball Season began. I had a friend who was a new Christian and had just begun to come to the church. He knew a lot of the people at Long Beach Jr. College. He asked me if he should try to recruit some of the basketball team. Wow, why not -- another potential win-win. He was successful, we got a few players who were willing to attend church and play on our team. Well, they showed up on Sunday morning. I received a call from the pastor! "You have to correct this situation. Those men can't be a part of the church. You have to tell them that they can't be on the basketball team." I asked why. Unfortunately those young men had the wrong skin color. They were black. I was appalled! Yet, to a shame that I still feel, I told those young men that they weren't welcome at our church. I was mad at myself, but I was also mad at the church. How could they.

I suppose that I should also tell about the context. The motto of FBC Bellflower was "A Friendly Church in the heart of a Friendly Town." Sounds good -- and to some extent true. The problem was that the town wasn't friendly if you weren't white -- although they did tolerate some Latinos. The town was a dairy town settled by the Dutch. My school was filled with Van this and Van that. Lot's of blond hair and blue eyes. Growing up I didn't even think about this. I don't think I ever personally came into contact with any black people. As a side note, one of my good friends in High School went to UCLA with me and pledged a fraternity. I asked him how he could get into that frat -- they are Jewish. Well, so was he. UCLA changed me and opened my eyes. 

Bellflower is different now and so is the church. But, this event was one more thing that helped me to decide that I wanted nothing to do with a career in the church. I really did not want to be the pastor of a church.