We had our annual Homecoming Sunday at Concord Missionary Baptist Church. Our pastor, Bro. Howard Hamilton, preached after Sunday School, then we enjoyed a basket dinner. Bro. DeWayne Burdette, who was our pastor for something like 20 years, preached in the afternoon. His wife, Janice, was with him.

He said he first came to Concord 42 years ago. The first time he preached for us, the only person he knew in the congregation was one little girl, our niece, Jeannie Gough, who liked him so well that she caught a ride with somebody, probably us, so she could hear him.

A lot has changed in 42 years. Jeannie is married and she and her husband and son live in Jacksonville, FL, a little bit out of driving distance.

Bro. DeWayne and Sister Janice are still just as friendly as ever. He has retired from laying decorative rock on houses, but not from preaching. You remember that he and Janice drove all the way to Louisiana so he could marry Adrian and Cain.

He brought me news from the rehab facility in Bolivar where I stayed while I got dialysis and a few surgeries. While there I met Peggy Jones whose farm shared a fenceline with the Burdettes. At 98, she had known DeWayne all his life. She was hoping to make it to 100. She was a walking history book.  She ate 3 meals a day at our table until she moved to another part of Park View. She really didn’t need rehab because she could walk.  The director of that and several other CMH nursing homes was her oldest grandchild, Tim Franka, who told me every time I saw him that Peggy had asked about me. Recently she passed away, so she didn’t make it to 100. Bro. DeWayne preached her husband’s funeral. Bro. DeWayne said her husband told him he was saved while the Navy was burying a pilot at sea who had missed his landing on the aircraft carrier. Peggy told me she was attending a revival at Rock Prairie Missionary Baptist Church when on a hillside as she was carrying two 10-gallon buckets of water, she was saved. She said she then picked up the buckets and took the water to the chickens. Yes, she said 10 gallon buckets. I didn’t ask her if they were full.

Another one who came to our table for a few days was Faith Durmell who at 92 told me she was the oldest living member of Halfway Missionary Baptist Church. Because of where she had lived, I asked if she knew DeWayne Burdette. Yes, he had been their pastor for 12 years.  She soon moved to another part of Park View because she could walk and didn’t need rehab. Well, she recently passed away and Bro. DeWayne preached her funeral. At her request, she was buried in her wedding dress with her wedding hat on the pillow beside her head.

Last week I really thought I had done something when a supervisor at WellCare gave me an authorization number for what I thought was my chemical stress test my doctors want me to have. By then, the doctor’s office was closed so left the number on the answering machine. I called the next morning and the receptionist, Vicky, said she had forwarded that number to the heart specialist.

The next day, Kimball got a phone call from the heart specialist’s office. The WellCare supervisor had given me the authorization number for my June 1 echo-cardiagram.

Dr. DeHoyas’ office has taken over on trying to get an authorization from WellCare. I heard Dr. DeHoyas rejected their suggestion to use a tread mill. As of Friday, Dr. DeHoyas’ office hoped to have an authorization this week.

-Somebody sent me a Facebook post I don’t understand: “Silence is golden. Duct tape is silver.” If you figure it out, please let me know. KL