It’s February. It’s cold and I’m already yearning for warm summer breezes. But if anything can warm our souls in February it’s a love story and love stories are appropriate since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.


One of my favorite stories came from Dennis and Nancy Glazener. Dennis has a flare for story telling and he instantly had us hooked when he started his story with, “Nancy and I slept in the same bassinet.” Here’s the rest of the story in Dennis’ words:
“I’ve known Nancy Parks (Glazener) ever since I can remember. Her family and my family went to the same church (Black Branch Baptist). Her grandfather donated the land that the church was built on. Both of my grandfathers and grandmothers were early members of that church as were both our parents.I was born in June 1943, because of that my father had been given a deferment from being drafted into the Army. Shortly after my birth my father was called back for the draft and was inducted into the Army. Upon completion of his basic training my father was stationed at Fort McPherson, College Park, GA. My father had an aunt living in College Park, GA and she was willing to allow my mother and father to live there while daddy was stationed there, my mother planned to travel by train from our home in Chase City, VA to Atlanta, GA to meet my father.In those days there were no car seats for infants to travel in. A portable crib called a bassinet, allowed mothers to travel with their babies. With me being the first child of our family, my mother did not own a bassinet but Nancy’s mother, Mildred, did. By then Mildred’s first child was old enough not to need a bassinet so my mother borrowed Mildred Park’s bassinet and used that for me to travel by train to Atlanta, GA. My mother said that I slept in it the whole time we lived in College Park (less than a year) and also on the return train trip back home. Shortly after this, Mrs. Parks had a little girl named Nancy and she needed the bassinet for Nancy to sleep in. Little did either mother know that the two babies that slept in that bassinet would marry each other 21 years 4 months and 29 days later and enjoy over 52 years of marriage together.”


Would you like to hear some more of these stories? If so, you’re invited to attend a special Valentine’s Dinner on Wednesday Feb 13th at 6:00 p.m. We’ll enjoy dinner together and share a time of story telling. If you can attend the dinner please call the church office and RSVP so we’ll know how much food to order. The cost of the dinner is $7.50 per person and children are free. May God bless Nancy and Dennis Glazener and may God bless Bethel Baptist Church.

