Bob, Chris’ father, wasn’t much keen on formal religion. Jan tried hard to make him a church-going man but he resisted. She’d get the boys all dressed up in their little suits. She'd put on her own nice hat for their Sunday outing. Nevertheless, Bob stayed home almost every week.
These photos of the family going to church must have been taken on Easter.
Chris, Gregory, Bob circa 1955 - (photo taken by Jan)
Jan, Matt, Chris, Bob about 1955 (photo taken by Gregory)
Religion was a bigger part of Bob’s childhood than of his adulthood. Bob’s early childhood was spent in China. Bob’s father, Howard, was born in Hwanghsien to Baptist missionary parents. He lived there until Bob was about seven.
Howard had long since stepped away from his parents’ fervent missionary zeal. As a young adult, he worked in business. Howard’s fluency in both Chinese and English made him a valuable employee in Shanghai and Chefoo.
Bob’s mother, Fleeta, also came from a strong religious family. Her father was an itinerant preacher, traveling through the USA. He brought his large family with him in a covered wagon.
Howard and Fleeta brought young Bob, and his older brother, to live in the United States when it became extremely dangerous to continue living in China.
The family settled into a pleasant town of Columbia, Missouri. Other members of the Stephens family had established themselves there. Howard and Fleeta joined a bible study group that lasted for decades. Those group members were dear friends of one another.
Bob went to church with his brother and parents. Even when he’d grown, married and brought his own children back to visit Columbia, he was expected to attend church on Sunday.
When Bob’s sons got a little older, they occasionally visited their grandparents in Columbia alone. Chris went quite a few times. Of course he went to church with them, but it was to Chris’ brother, Matt, that Howard taught the Fly Catcher game.
One can play this game when sitting in church and listening to a long sermon that doesn’t quite engage your interest. Howard explained how it worked to young Matt.
Sit very still
Hold your hand in a loose fist, and raise it up so it’s the highest thing for inches around (flies like height)
Rest the thumb against the curled forefinger in such a way as to create a tempting spot for flies
Wait
When conditions are perfect, a fly buzzing around the church will land on your bent finger, its legs in the tiny crevice formed by thumb against finger
Close thumb nail against the finger, thereby trapping the fly’s legs.
Hurray! You’ve caught a fly
Matt asked his grandfather how long he’d been playing this game in church.
“Oh goodness, for ages,” said Howard.
“How many flies have you caught so far?”
Howard’s exact answer does not come down clearly to posterity. What is clear is that Howard was a good man. There were some things he looked very much about religion and others that he didn’t.
It was the same with Bob.
It is the same with Chris. Even now, though Chris has completely detached himself from organized religion, he continues to admire the memories of majesty and music of the services at St. Luke’s church.
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