Ronald George Kelly went to be with his Lord and Savior and his beloved Joanie on Oct. 18, 2018. Ron was born in Manhattan, New York on March 7, 1933 to Robert and Anna Kelly. Ron was preceded in death by his soulmate, Joanie, his sisters, Doris, Roberta (Birtie), Patricia (Tishie), brothers, John, Jim, Bobby, Billy and Kenneth.Ron graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx in 1952. Ron enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at the start of the Korean War, after training at [...]
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Ronald George Kelly Obituary
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In Good Faith: Lord, in your mercy
When my brother and I were kids, back in the days before iPads and the Cartoon Network, we used to play Mercy. This was the perfect game for two boys close enough in age to want to inflict physical pain upon the other. We’d try to twist the other’s hand backwards until one of us gave in and literally cried out for “Mercy.” In some parts of the country, this game is known as Uncle (“Say uncle!”), but the concept remains the same. The point is to cause [...]
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Shayne Looper: Being political, remaining Christian
This season of the year presents some people with a greater challenge for remaining true to their creed than any other. During the campaign season, it’s as if people have been issued a “Get Out of Ethics” card, a pass on behavior that fails to conform to their stated convictions. “Love your neighbor as yourself” is optional if your neighbor has the wrong bumper sticker on his car.This year’s election season was supercharged by the Senate [...]
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Remembering Herman Jones
St. Joseph Bay, Port St. Joe and this reporter lost a friend Sunday evening.After a courageous and all too brief battle with liver cancer, Herman Jones passed away at his home.We talked last week, he called to say goodbye.The prior three months had been h-e-double-toothpicks for him and he had been brought home in his final days to pass away with family and [...]
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Lola Bell Clark Russ Obituary
Mrs. Lola Bell Clark Russ, a beloved Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister and Christian Friend, was born on September 18, 1931, in Gordon, Alabama to the late Mr. Jessie James Clark Sr., and Mrs. Louisa (Luizer) Grimes Clark who preceded her in death. Mrs. Russ was called to her heavenly home on November 2, 2018, in Tampa FL, at the home of her baby daughter, Holly M. Russ, where she was currently residing and being lovingly cared for. Mrs. Russ was a Devout Christian and received the [...]
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Mary Jo Patterson Obituary
Mary Jo Patterson was born on April 27, 1928 in Gentry, Arkansas, to Hollis and Eva Bailey. She worked as a teacher in the Gulf County public school system.Mary Jo was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by sons Pat (Lewana) Patterson,Mike Patterson and sister Faye Patterson. She has two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.Viewing was held at 10 a.m. CT Friday, November 2, 2018, and funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. graveside in Buckhorn [...]
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'Hour of Power' at New Bethel
The Citywide Missionary Society of Port St. Joe will host its annual “Hour of Power: 12-1 p.m. ET Thursday, Nov. 22 at New Bethel A.M.E. Church, located at 146 Avenue C.“We have much to be thankful for.”Rev. James Chambers is the host pastor. For additional information contact Sister Cora L. Curtis at 890-6563 or Sister Minnie Likely at 866-4704.
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Suzette Martinez Standring: Meditation and creating textile art
Deep fall invites cozy stillness, and an appreciation of fabrics. Quilts and other textiles soften the darkness. Baskets hearken back to close-to-the-earth times. Creating them is a meditation. Too often, their functional use, for example, what we stand on or sleep with, overshadows the true artistry of textile crafts.In Milton, Massachusetts, I wandered through an eclectic art exhibit, “Standing on Stories,” at the Milton Art Center, which highlights weavings, quilts, rugs, [...]
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Susan Sparks : A world without kudzu
As a North Carolinian living in New York, I miss so many things: good barbeque (or maybe I should say “legitimate barbecue”), and Southern accents, such as people who put the accent on the first syllable of words like “HALL-o-ween, and “THANKS-giving.”But there is one thing I do not miss from the South: kudzu. Nicknamed “the vine that ate the South,” kudzu is an invasive green parasite that grows up to a foot per day and has now blanketed [...]
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Shayne Looper: The story isn’t about ease and security
When my family was living in northeastern Ohio, I received a letter inviting pastors to a meet-and-greet with a candidate for Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Wanting to be a responsible and informed voter, I replied that I would attend.There were hundreds of pastors in the area who probably received the same letter; I think I was the only one who attended. There were business people there, and lawyers, and newspaper reporters, but only one pastor.I went, expecting to learn the [...]
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Bill Tinsley: Lincoln’s Thanksgiving
Perhaps more than any other historical figure, Abraham Lincoln continues to shape the American psyche. The success of Steven Spielberg’s movie “Lincoln” gives some indication of our continued fascination with the 16th President. When we think of Thanksgiving, we usually think of Pilgrims and Indians gathered for a harvest feast at Plymouth, but it was Abraham Lincoln who gave us Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Prior to Lincoln, each state celebrated Thanksgiving on [...]
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Rebuild
Dear Friends,“In the midst of life we are in death….”Those are the words that begin the traditional Service of Committal that I have said hundreds of times at the local cemetery. We are in death. Our community as we knew it, never more shall be. This means that each of us along the Forgotten Coast is in the process of grieving. In 1962, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross introduced to the world the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and [...]
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Deborah Medlin Harvey Obituary
Deborah Medlin Harvey, 57, of Port St. Joe, FL passed away peacefully November 4, 2018 at a family home in Goose Creek, SC.Memorial Services will be held 3 p.m. ET Saturday November 17, 2018 at Holly Hill Cemetery, 1665 Madison Street in Port St. Joe. The family will receive friends after the service.Deborah, daughter of Ernest “Ray” Medlin and the late Cora Sue, was born May 30, 1961 in Port St. Joe, FL. She graduated from Port St. Joe High School. [...]
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Lois “Jeanette” Armstrong Obituary
Lois “Jeanette” Armstrong, 81, of Port St. Joe, FL passed away Tuesday, November 6, 2018 at Haven Hospice in Jacksonville, FL.Funeral Services will be held 2 p.m. ET, Friday, November 9, 2018 at Hope Family Worship, 2001 Garrison Avenue Port St. Joe, FL 32456, with Pastor Dave Fernandez, Pastor Glen Davis, and Pastor Ben Armstrong officiating. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at 1 p.m. ET. Interment will follow at Holly Hill [...]
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Elmore Myrick Godfrey III Obituary
Captain Elmore Myrick Godfrey III, age 99, passed away at Crosswinds Nursing Home in Monticello, FL on Monday, Nov. 5, 2018 after a brief illness. Elmore was born on March 21, 1919 in Knoxville, TN and attended Knoxville High School where he was the top drilled cadet in ROTC. He enrolled at the University of Tennessee at the age of 16 and later transferred to the University of Florida because UT did not have a forestry program at the time. He graduated from UF with a degree in [...]
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Barbecuing at the Methodist Church
The folks in Port St. Joe received still another culinary treat over the weekend, courtesy of a competitive grilling team out of Auburn, AL.The group, members of a Methodist church in Auburn, set up shop, or kitchen, at First United Methodist Church in Port St. Joe and served out two meals on Saturday and another Sunday.“It was delicious,” said Mike Bird.The group, said Rev. Geoffrey Lentz, ended up grilling about 4,000 pounds of meat, chicken [...]
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Shayne Looper: The danger of idolizing technology
Every era has its gods — the powerful entities that people routinely turn to for protection, provision and personal fulfillment. In our era that god is technology.Technology has achieved ascendancy in this generation, at least in the West, but it began its rise to power in the Renaissance. The advance of crank and connecting rod technology, the inventions of the flywheel and the navigational compass, and preeminently the invention of the printing press transformed the cultural [...]
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Susan Sparks: The politics of sweet potato casserole
Way more than politics and religion, my family’s passionate holiday fights revolve around food. Specifically, the battle lines are drawn over whether marshmallows or brown sugar and pecans are the best topping for the always wondrous sweet potato casserole. I, myself, am a brown sugar/pecan warrior, while other, lesser beings in my family, believe that white sticky goo should be used as a topping. And so, every year, there’s a stand-off. Eyes narrow, arms fold and the fight [...]
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Bill Tinsley: Thanksgiving and Black Friday
I glanced at the magazines on the rack, and there she was, Martha Stewart, promising the “Best Thanksgiving Ever.” She was offering a perfect piece of pie while smiling a perfect smile with perfect teeth, wearing a perfect dress with perfect hair, surrounded by a perfect kitchen with an open window that looked out on a perfect garden. Every wrinkle and excess pound had been photoshopped away so that she looked decades younger than her actual age. Unlike Martha, when we sit [...]
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Suzette Martinez Standring: Holidays and missing those who have passed
Holiday memories center around food and family. So it’s painful when well-loved folks are gone. Betsy Farwell died at the age of 87, and was known as a big-time foodie whose cooking nurtured many. At her memorial service in Lake Forest, Illinois, her three grown children gifted 300 of their mother’s cookbooks to guests, with the remainder donated to the local library. Back home in Milton, Massachusetts, her son, John “Jay” Farwell and Linda, his wife, gave me a [...]
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