Close to Nowhere

Reading the Rev. Dr. Milton Winter’s newest book, “The Preacher’s Corner,” made me miss my friend Milton.

The book of selected columns, written from autumn 1989 until his retirement in 2015, covers the joys, hopes, fears and sorrows of not only the Holly Springs Presbyterian Church, but many of the characters that inhabit our town of Holly Springs and neighboring communities.

Reading his book brought many good memories (and some sad ones) of friends and happenings in and around Holly Springs. It brought laughs and a couple of tears.

There is no way to reprint his columns, even bits and pieces of them, in this column. Winter’s columns were intricately worded, often using paragraphs to lead you down memory lane to where he intended you to end up.

In one column, written in August 2000, he extends a warm welcome to the new First Baptist Church minister, Rev. Curtis Ferrell. Winter advises the church congregation to be tolerant of his choice of hymns and sermon topics as Ferrell adjusts to life in Holly Springs.

One of my personal favorites is about the life and legacy of Sara Hettinger. “The lady who drove the little red car, perhaps faster than she should, always with a wave.”

She was famous, in my mind as well as many others, for portraying the Easter Bunny. She often “tooled” around town in costume having a grand time.

Rereading his column on diagramming sentences brought a laugh. In fifth grade I was the best diagrammer in class and today, I have a Tshirt explaining how to diagram a sentence.

Some of the columns bring back sadder memories. Recalling the day Graham Miller turned the key in his store for the last time, written June 15, 2006. “Graham is not only a character, he has character.” The Millers had stores on the square for three generations.

Martians have landed on the church roof, written July 2, 2009, pokes fun at himself and all the new communication devices. He recalls a preacher “down Waterford way,” who asked to speak to a hapless caller during service and chastised him for not being in church. Winter reported that the congregation laughed about it for days.

I could go on for pages and pages (I am mentioned on four of the pages in the book). But every good book has to come to an end and “The Preacher’s Corner” came to an end on page 597.

If you’d like to wander Winter’s fond tales of Holly Springs characters and church life, drop him a note:

And enjoy again his tales of faith, foibles and friendship.

Linda Jones is a retired staff writer for The South Reporter. She lives in Laws Hill.