Low Country Soul: Songs My Father Sang
By Ralph Bailey
()
About this ebook
Ralph Bailey
Dr. Ralph Bailey is a retired Methodist Minister who lives with his wife in Savannah, GA., the city in which he was born. In addition to his parish ministry, he served for 13 years as Director of Pastoral Care at Candler General Hospital, has written curriculum for the Methodist Publishing House, and numerous articles for nationally circulated periodicals. He is the author of “For Everything A Season” which was first published in 1975 by Hawthorn Books and republished in 2011 by Xlibris. He is the pastor emeritus at historic, Trinity UMC, the mother church of Savannah Methodism.
Related to Low Country Soul
Related ebooks
Deep'n as It Come: The 1927 Mississippi River Flood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Atlanta's Iconic Ape: The Life of Willie B. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe County of Warren, North Carolina, 1586-1917 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew York's Cherokee Indians: The 2000 Epic Millennium The 2nd Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIndian Legends of the White Mountains Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Family of Women: The Carolina Petigrus in Peace and War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Big House: On Tick Bite Rd Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlat Rock of the Old Time: Letters from the Mountains to the Lowcountry, 1837–1939 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When Husbands Die Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCommanders of the Dining Room: Biographic Sketches and Portraits of Successful Head Waiters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Tour through the Asylum: A Southern Integrationist's Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeep Roots: The Story of a Place and Its People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlmost Hollywood: The Forgotten Story of Jacksonville, Florida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEDISTO ISLAND: Seaside Stories From A Geechee Gal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGood Lil’ Boys and Girls from the Cotton State of Alabama and the Magnolia State of Mississippi: (Black Children Speak Series!) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Restaurants of Memphis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Am a Metis: The Story of Gerry St. Germain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLafourche Parish Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHidden History of Ponte Vedra Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhost Cats 2: More Afterlife Encounters with Feline Spirits Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Widowed Self: The Older Woman’s Journey through Widowhood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Culinary History of Myrtle Beach & the Grand Strand: Fish & Grits, Oyster Roasts and Boiled Peanuts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHidden History of Acadiana Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSouth Carolina Fire-Eater: The Life of Laurence Massillon Keitt, 1824-1864 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHurricane Katrina and I: A Testimony While Stationed in New Orleans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Lyle Saxon Reader: Lost Stories of the French Quarter and Buried Treasure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConfessions of an Iyeska Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Self-Improvement For You
Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Think and Grow Rich (Illustrated Edition): With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Believe Everything You Think: Why Your Thinking Is The Beginning & End Of Suffering Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Big Book of 30-Day Challenges: 60 Habit-Forming Programs to Live an Infinitely Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How May I Serve Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Win Friends and Influence People: Updated For the Next Generation of Leaders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Self-Care for People with ADHD: 100+ Ways to Recharge, De-Stress, and Prioritize You! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRunning on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild at Heart Expanded Edition: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chop Wood Carry Water: How to Fall In Love With the Process of Becoming Great Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mastery of Self: A Toltec Guide to Personal Freedom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: The Infographics Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Low Country Soul
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Low Country Soul - Ralph Bailey
© 2012 by Ralph Bailey. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
Published by AuthorHouse 11/01/2012
ISBN: 978-1-4772-8444-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4772-8445-2 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012920007
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Reflections
Ralph Swinton Bailey
PART 1 THE LOW COUNTRY MARINADE
Chapter 1
Home
Chapter 2
Rockville
Chapter 3
The Sacred Landscape
Chapter 4
Harps And Willows
PART II THE SONGS MY FATHER SANG
Chapter 5
The 1St Song—Put First Things First
Chapter 6
The 2Nd Song—Truth Or Consequences
Chapter 7
The 3Rd Song—Empathy
Chapter 8
The 4Th Song—The Partnership
Chapter 9
The 5Th Song—God In The Darkness
Chapter 10
The 6Th Song—God In The Sunshine
Chapter 11
The 7Th Song—A Tribute
Chapter 12
The 8Th Song—The Final Curtain
Postlude
About The Author
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
4416.jpgSpecial thanks are due the following people whose help contributed to the writing of these pages:
Both my mother and father—leaving written account of their life and times-and who, by example, motivated me to do the same.
Members of my extended South Carolina family who encouraged me to write about Rockville while I was still able.
My sister, Rosemary, who lived, loved and shared these times with me. Conversations with her always enriched my life and added depth and color to my recollections. She has been an invaluable benchmark against which to measure both the accuracy of my stories and the depth of my understanding, particularly in the area of family history and dynamics. Her encouragement kept me on task even when I might have rested for a while.
Two invaluable friends, both of whom read the manuscript and cared enough to tell the truth even if and when I would have preferred to hear something else—The Rev. Enoch Hendry, my pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in Savannah and Karen McClure of Atlanta, a longtime friend and confidant with whom I’ve shared many things across the years including the privilege of being her pastor, her colleague in Clinical Pastoral Training at Georgia Regional Hospital in Savannah, and beneficiary of her insight in a study group while I was writing my doctoral dissertation. I was working on the problem of Moving from Estrangement to Reconciliation
and having trouble with the content and development. She said, I know why you’re having trouble. You aren’t reconciled.
She was right, and I needed the same incisive perspective as I worked my way through this project. I’ll have to take final responsibility for the outcome of this work, but however it turns out, it is much better than it would have been without benefit of her clear vision, honest criticism and enthusiastic encouragement.
Certainly I could not have done it without the help of my wife, Vermelle. For years she has been an eagle-eyed editor with the patience to go over every word at least several times; who can smell the aroma of literary fertilizer from a mile away; who has listened patiently to my stories, many of which she has heard time and time again; who has loved me most of the time and tolerated me the rest . . . . For more than fifty years she’s been the love of my life.
Thanks to you who read these pages. Were it not for the hope that you would do so, I’d have not bothered to write them.
I also want to express gratitude to my technical support person, who did the work of formatting and scanning the final manuscript before submission for consideration for publication, and who also just happens to be my sister-in-law, Lorene Pierce.
In addition, two books were most helpful in re-orientation after all these years.
They are:
1. Rockville, by Alicia Lish
Anderson Thompson, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston 2006.
2. A Place Called St. John’s, by Laylon Wayne Jordan and Elizabeth H. Stringfellow. Reprint Company, Publishers, Spartanburg, SC, 1998
REFLECTIONS
4419.jpgRalph Bailey, my dad, died on April 5, 1972 at the age of 74. He was an imperfect person, as we all are, living in an imperfect world, as we all do, and struggling to do the best he could with the hand that fate had dealt him. And like all of us, the person he became was the product of those emerging forces working around and within him. I’ll try my best to explain those dynamics, but I can say up front that I believe he ran a good race.
In his thirties, Dad developed rheumatoid arthritis that nearly crippled him; but still he kept going, often working two jobs. Later in life he suffered from congestive heart failure and eventually died of a heart attack, the last of several over a period of years. Fortunately, he had sufficient time between the onset of the disease and it’s conclusion to come to terms with his own mortality. This I saw with my own eyes.
He was hospitalized with one of his many attacks a year or so before his death. Actually, this one would be his next to last. As soon as I heard of his illness I came home to Tifton from Jesup, where I was living at the time, and found him in surprisingly good humor. His countenance was a startling contrast to the grim intensity I’d seen on his face when he’d first gotten sick a number of years before. I found him sitting up in bed with pen and paper in hand.
As always he was delighted to see me and when our greeting was over, I asked him what he was writing.
Nothing much,
he answered, just a few things I hope you won’t forget.
Can I see?
I asked.
No, there’ll be time for that later,
he answered with a solemn smile while putting the pages back into the manila envelope. It was the closest thing he had to a briefcase.
I understood what he meant.
After his death, I came home periodically, but it would be seven months before Mom finally felt emotionally ready to deal with the envelope’s contents. What we found was a collection of notes and stories written on whatever scraps of paper were available at the time. There was a chronological account that must have been the document he was developing during his last hospitalization. But there were other writings that he recorded as his/our life passed through stormy days. Regardless of the circumstance, each was a hymn of praise drawn from the seemingly worst possible scenario. Indeed, they were wonderful windows into the soul of an extraordinary man.
He was a great story teller. In turn, his stories and his teachings have now become the core of both my life and this book. Aside from his genetic input, these life lessons
helped determine who I am.
In the last moments of his life, Dad had been working among the trees and flowers of his yard, doing the thing he loved most in his favorite place in the entire world.
This homestead was the first real estate he’d owned since the great depression when he had to sell his family’s farm on Wadmalaw Island, SC. In his garden, he was standing on holy ground.
That morning he had been raking pine straw into neat rows and had stopped to take a break. He leaned the rake against the back porch, hung his hat on the handle, and went inside to get a drink of water.
He wanted to call Mom.
Although she hadn’t felt well that day, she had gone to her secretarial work in the Dean’s office at Abraham Baldwin College. They talked about 10:15 AM. He hoped she was feeling better and said he was expecting the TV repairman at any minute. The technician arrived at 10:30 and found Dad on the lawn by the back steps, dead.
Apparently he was sitting on those same steps when he was stricken. He never got to finish the glass of water.
The coroner said he was gone before he hit the ground.
At the end of a long and productive earthly life, it’s something of a tragedy in and of itself that, all of one’s triumphs and tragedies, struggles, loves, pain and joy, longings and personal satisfactions, can be compressed into the space of a single hyphen etched into a tombstone between the