MEETING MY FAMILY chapter 83

Most people have a hard time meeting the family of the person they want to marry. That is especially so if you have developed a relationship apart from interaction from those families. Della and I knew each other pretty well before either of us met the family of the other.

I had the advantage of knowing some of Della’s friends and a former pastor before meeting any of her family. Of course I knew them through her, but that isn’t exactly the same.

We worry less about whom they are than how they will respond to us. Will they like us, will they accept us, and will they approve of us? Add to that the little idiosyncrasies of our family that we know and cannot really explain. Then there are things we live with that become normal to us, but are certainly not normal to the one we want to introduce.

By the time we had reached Omaha, I had given up being embarrassed by the place where we lived and accepted my family as they were. My only hope was that Della could do the same. My family is not verbally demonstrative. Only David can really initiate and carry on a conversation with someone he just met. He did not live in Omaha and I did not know who all would come around.

Dean, my younger brother, had married while I was at college that first semester. He now lived in Council Bluffs and had two children (I thought). I had met his wife, but really knew nothing about them. Would he come over?

Doris and her family lived in Nebraska City and she and her family would likely come by. I had always gotten along with her. I enjoyed all her. Gladys and her three kids would come by. Her husband was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base and was certainly and easy guy to talk to. Dorlis was in Florida and we would not see her.

There was some preconceived tension about our reception. I was clearly heading toward the ministry and I did not know what to expect. Would our reception be somewhat strained? A sibling going into the ministry was weird.

The meeting was cordial if not warm. I do not now remember exactly who came by. My parents were receptive toward Della. Mom, never found it easy around strangers, but dad welcomed her to the family.

The trip to Omaha was planned so I would be the best man in Al’s wedding. I was thrilled to be included. I considered him my very best friend and I have always thought the world of Bev. Why else would I have dated her (just had to squeeze that in there)? And since my plans were to marry a Canadian I did wonder how often our paths would cross in the future.

The wedding was on August 13^th, a Friday, at the Tabernacle. From the outside it looked more like a warehouse than a church. It had this little theater marquee handing over the front door with the name and it was right at the street – no lawn in front. The roof was curved like a Quonset hut, but the inside was large and comfortable. It would seat about a thousand and was the only church I knew that was air conditioned in the ‘50’s. It has a sloped floor and no center aisle for the bride to enter. I thought they should have laid boards over the back of the pews so the bride could walk down the center. That didn’t happen. Rev. Gordon Wishart was the officiating pastor. Al said, “I am glad you kept me from backing out on the marriage thing and Bev has kept a short leash on me from day one.” That’s a joke. You could not have stopped those two from getting married. I love ‘em both.

The Omaha Gospel Tabernacle was founded in 1921 and pastored by Rev. R. R. Brown. He established the church as part of the C&MA. Services were held west of 20th and Douglas St. In 1923, Dr. Brown began a radio broadcast of the first ever-nondenominational religious services. By 1933, Radio Chapel Service had a weekly national audience of more than 500,000. The broadcast continued for the next 53 years, becoming the longest continuous radio program on any one station in the world.

I first met Rev. Wishart the summer before when I went to his office to ask if he would baptize me. I wanted to be baptized at the Tabernacle. I knew the bulk of his ministry had been in Canada and he had spoke at CBC the year before where we first met. He had a very interesting take on following the founding pastor of a church he had served 53 years. He told me he would only be there a couple of years. His job was to transition the church toward a permanent pastor. Rev. Brown took no salary from the Tabernacle (the radio program paid his salary) and he owned his own home. So there was a big financial transition the church was making and some leaders were struggling with the new additional financial burdens. I believe he helped pave the way for a great future for what has become Christ Community Church in Omaha.

This is the front of the Tabernacle before the Marquee was added.

I have no idea what Dr. Brown is digging as that was the street when I attended.