Page 54 - Winterling's Chasing the Wind

delivered by the pastor, Sidney Maddox. During the week, I met many new friends at
the Baptist Student Union which was located near the college campus. It was directed
Reverend Kermit Whitaker, a man who had a warm, magnetic personality. Some of the
students and I would meet on Sunday afternoons and visit the city jail and nursing
homes. We ministered to many elderly and ailing people. My heart especially went out
for those who were severely crippled with arthritis. We sang songs like Mansion over
the Hilltop, A Closer Walk with Thee, Just a Little Talk with Jesus.

Although I didn’t visit towns outside of Stillwater, I felt I learned much about the lives
of Oklahomans from my friends in Stillwater. At the BSU, vesper services were held
each evening around 6 PM where different students would give inspiring devotionals
or tell their life experiences. We had many joyous times singing choruses, ones being
sung at Youth for Christ meetings at that time. I began to teach myself to play hymns on
the piano where we met for Vespers. One of my first was “When I Survey the
Wondrous Cross” because it was easiest to learn and I loved the melody.

During the Christmas break, I caught a ride with a couple of students who were driving
to Florida. I was really impressed with the rolling hills of northern Arkansas and the
floodplain of the Mississippi River as we entered Mississippi at historic Vicksburg.
When I was visiting mother at the Matthews’ apartment on Dellwood Avenue, my
stepfather, George Stich gave me a $20 bill and told me to buy a half pint of Seagram’s
7 liquor in Five Points. I didn’t like that because it reminded me of all the drunken
binges he went on with my mother during my teen years.

When I visited my girlfriend, June, I realized that I no longer had the same feelings for
her that I did before entering the service. I was eager to head back to school in
Oklahoma. A fellow classmate, Richard Hoopes, picked me up in his small MG sports
car. Since it was such a long drive, he decided to spend the night at the Duval Hotel on
Monroe Street in Tallahassee. The next morning we made good time to Mobile as he
was going around 70 mph, but when we hit US 90 in Mississippi which ran along the
Gulf of Mexico we could see nothing but fog in front of the car. Nevertheless, he still
drove close to 60 mph, until two headlights were coming straight for us. In the blink of
an eye, he swerved the MG across the approaching lane onto the opposite shoulder.
This is the same stretch of road that the blonde movie star Jayne Mansfield was
decapitated when it slammed into a tractor-trailer that was halted by a mosquito
spraying truck. Miraculously, we made it safely to New Orleans in one piece!
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