The Story My
Father
The Rev. Mr.
Dwight Alfred Sharpe
By
Dwight Albert Sharpe, his son
DWIGHT ALFRED SHARPE was born on 04 Sep 1901
in Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas. He died on 02 Aug 1981 in Alamo
Heights, Bexar County, Texas. He married Martha Dixon Chapman (daughter of Dr. James
Herschell Chapman, MD and Margaret Lavina Abney) on 31 May 1926 in Lufkin, Angelina
County, Texas. She was born on 05 Apr 1904 in Lufkin, Angelina County, Texas.
She died on 02 Aug 1979 in Alamo Heights, Bexar County, Texas.
Dwight Alfred Sharpe was born the year that George Gallup (11/18/1901- 7/26/1984), the American
statistician and pioneering opinion researcher, was born. They died just less
than three years apart.
My
father lived through some of the turbulent times of racial strife in this
nation. January 1901 was a stormy time in the South of the United States. On
January 15, 1901, the Alabama Democratic Party called for a convention to write
a new state constitution that would prohibit African-Americans from voting.
Despite vocal opposition from Booker T. Washington and other Republican
civil rights activists, the Democrat strategy succeeded. Democrats dominated
Alabama's 1901 constitutional convention, and its chairman was a Democrat. In
his opening address, he said: "If we would have white supremacy, we must
establish it by law -- not by force or fraud... The negro is descended from a
race lowest in intelligence and moral precepts of all the races of men."
Alabama's
African-American citizens would not vote in appreciable numbers again until the
1950s. It was a Republican federal judge, Frank Johnson, who in 1956 ruled in
favor of Rosa Parks. It was that same judge who in 1965 ordered the Democrat
governor, George Wallace, to permit Martin Luther King's voting rights march
from Selma to Montgomery. At the 2000 Republican National Convention, Condoleezza Rice, destined to become the United States
Secretary of State, said: "The first Republican I knew was my father, and
he is still the Republican I most admire. He joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow Alabama of 1952 would not
register him to vote. The Republicans did. My father has never forgotten that
day, and neither have I."
The
Democratic Party of today does not want Americans to remember that Republicans
supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act much more than did the
Democrats. It was passed in the U. S. Senate only after an 83-day filibuster
led by the Democratic Party leadership in the Senate.
Source:
http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com/
This
is the story of my father:
The
guiding spiritual light in the family for Dwight's early years was his Mother,
who saw to it that he had an involved and effective life in the First Presbyterian Church there in Georgetown. The
Williamson County Sun newspaper issue of June 7, 1979, published an extensive full-page
article and pictures on page 11 about the 125th recognition of the church's
anniversary. Dwight was cited as being one of only three members of that church
who went into the pastoral ministry over the 125-year time of its existence at
that time.
Dwight's
approval for candidacy for the Gospel Ministry was given by the Session of that
church in 1922. I have a photocopy of the Minutes of the Session meeting. This
was just after the retirement of Rev. M. C. Hutton, who was cited as one of the
most effective pastors in that church's history, serving some 35 years from
1886 till 1921. He was the pastor whom we understand had influence and
encouragement on Dwight in his thinking and feeling a call to the ministry. The
Session minutes were much more descriptive about the praiseworthy
characteristics of Dwight than typical minutes are in today's world of just
recording that the action was approved. Those details are a little later in
this narrative.
Dwight
was born in the year (in fact, just two days before) that President William
McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist and was succeeded by Theodore
Roosevelt. Roosevelt, is the uncle of the wife of President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, Dwight's half seventh cousin, once removed. President William
McKinley's assassin, Leon Czolgosz, was electrocuted October 29, 1901, just 55
days after the terrible event! WOW! Is that not justice faster than we see
today?
It
was the same year (1901) the Social Revolutionary Party was founded in Russia,
later to be what we came to know as Communism. Film producer Walt Disney was
born this year. Industrialist J. P. Morgan organized the U. S
Steel Corporation, who was Dwight's fifth cousin, once removed. The first
American Bowing Club tournament was held in Chicago in 1901 as well.
(Source:
"The Timetables of History" 3rd Revised Edition, Bernard Grun, Simon
& Schuster, New York1991, pages 454-455) And he was born a few months after
EnglandÕs Queen Victoria died in January.
The
famous Jazz player, Louis Armstrong was born the year of Dwight's birth. Two
days before Dwight was born, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt's famous advice, ''Speak softly and carry a big stick,'' was offered in a
speech at the Minnesota State Fair. That was the same day as the assassination of President McKinley.
On
Dwight's 17th birthday, the beginning of his senior year in High School,
September 4, 1918, there was the birth of Paul Harvey, who later would become a world-wide known
radio commentator, even still broadcasting as recently as 2007. He graduated to
heaven in 2009.
Dwight
was President of his 1918 High School graduating class in Georgetown, Texas. He
also was Business Manager of the School Annual, Salutatorian of his class, Vice
President of the Literary Society, had a role in the Senior Play and lettered
two years on the track team. In the yearbook, the Senior Class prophesy about
him to become a famous Texas lawyer!
He created a life-long
bond of friendship with fellow student Walter Johnson, a neighbor in Georgetown
who was physically disabled (wheel chair bound) and required personal tutoring
during junior high and high school years. Dwight gave generously of his time.
Walter married a woman who taught school, and they lived a wonderful life in
the Hill Country of Texas on one of those clear spring-fed creeks. We visited
them several times over the years while I was a young boy, shown in this
photograph.
The
high school data was made available to me when Mr. Tass Waterston, a member of
Highland Park Presbyterian Church, visited me soon after my 1982 arrival on the
staff of that church. He brought the 1918 High School Yearbook of his, and I could
photo copy relevant pages. Tass was a "best friend" and the same age
as my father's younger brother, Harry Simons Sharpe, as they all grew up in
Georgetown. Harry was known as "Dede." Tass has now passed on to
graduation to heaven, but I was able to get to know his son, Tom Lee Waterston,
and his grandsons, Tass Waterston II and Ted Waterston. Ted and his family have
continued as members of Highland Park Presbyterian Church, whereas the rest of
the family has moved out of town by now. Ted served that church as a Deacon. ThatÕs
the church where I served as Administrative Executive to the Senior Pastor
1982-2004.
Dwight
worked during high school in a combination general store and grocery store. The
many migrant workers patronizing it created the environment in which he learned
to converse in Spanish pretty well. This enabled him in later years to preach
occasionally for Hispanic Presbyterian congregations.
He
attended for one school year (1918-19) the University of Kentucky, the state
that had been his mother's family's home from where they migrated to Texas.
While attending The University of Kentucky, he stayed with a
relative of his mother's, in a sense, a man called Uncle Tom Vance. Uncle Tom was the son
of my 2nd great grandmother, Anastasia de Noailles Lafayette Hewlett
Vance. Next, Dwight attended for a
year Southwestern University, a Methodist institution
located in his hometown of Georgetown. Dwight's photograph is in the 1921 Southwestern
University yearbook that my niece, Nancy Lea Ehlers Reeves, now has from
materials she received after her Mom, Martha deNoailles Sharpe Ehlers, died. Martha is a
daughter of Dwight's and is my eldest of two sisters. Southwestern University began
in 1840, during the days of the Republic of Texas. I understand it is the oldest
continuously operating institution of higher education in Texas.
The
1920 U. S. Census for Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky has Dwight living
with the family of John T. Vance, age 62, whose wife's name was Glenna
(legibility question), also age 62, and a 26-year-old daughter named Mary. The
middle initial of "T" is for the Tom that we have understood was the
home where Dwight resided while at school. This Mr. Vance would have been born
in 1858. The Census entry shows Mr. Vance was born in Texas, but that his
father and mother were born in Kentucky. The 1860 Census of Lexington, Burleson
County, Texas shows him in the house of Charles Vance, with Tom being age
three.
ItÕs
curious to observe that Dwight also was counted in the 1920 Census as a
resident of Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas. Obviously, DwightÕs parents reported him
as a resident there, even though he was off to college in Kentucky. The Census taker listed Dwight in Uncle
TomÕs home, because that was where Dwight as, physically. So, no one can say my father was a no
count guy! He was counted twice in
the 1920 Census!
It
is curious to know that a Mr. Charles P. Vance moved from Kentucky to Texas at
around 1854, settling initially in Circleville, where the Alfred Simons family
settled, coming from Kentucky. James A. Simons, born in Kentucky in 1852, and
whose family came to Circleville in 1852, later, as an adult, went into
mercantile business with Mr. Vance, both in Circleville and later in Taylor.
Both of these towns are in Williamson County, Texas.
Since
Mr. John T. Vance, with whom Dwight lived in Kentucky in 1920, was born in 1858
in Texas, it can be assumed that John T. Vance was a son of Charles P. Vance,
and a brother to the Vance daughter, Sarah. If that kind of family connection
does not exist, we do not have any other logical reason that Dwight went to
Kentucky and lodged with the VanceÕs in Lexington. I think the set of
relationships conjectured are likely, and I am recording them in my records
until and unless other proof surfaces. It is interesting that the Vance
families had connections to towns named Lexington, both in Kentucky and in
Texas. Since their move to Texas in the early 1850's was when so many
communities were just being established, one wonders if one name influenced the
other.
The
Minutes of the Session, July 26, 1922, record the declarations of his presence
before them, seeking endorsement for DwightÕs candidacy:
"Mr.
D. A. Sharpe, a communing member of this, the Georgetown Presbyterian Church
(as it was called then), presented himself before the Session and communicated
the fact that he felt a call from the Holy Spirit to enter the Gospel Ministry,
and to devote his whole time, first to the preparation for such work, and then
to the active ministry in the Presbyterian Church in the United States. After
an examination of Brother Sharpe, touching his determination to enter the
ministry, the sureness of his call by the Holy Spirit, and his need of
financial aid in prosecuting his studies and receiving the Seminary courses,
the Session, by a unanimous vote, gives unanimous testimony to his good, moral
character, to the fact that he is a faithful, consecrated and active
communicating member of the Georgetown Presbyterian Church in good standing and
we recommend him to the Presbytery of Central Texas for reception under its
care as a fit candidate for the Gospel Ministry, and ask the Presbytery to
furnish and secure for him such financial aid as may be required for the
prosecution of his studies in the University of Texas and the Presbyterian
Seminary."
Dwight
graduated from the University of Texas in 1926 and from Austin Presbyterian Theological
Seminary
in 1926. I often wonder how he managed graduation dates from both institutions
in the same year, though I do not know the months.
His
seminary class consisted of 14 men pictured here. An arrow points to him on the back row,
in the center.
Part
of the time, if not much of it, that Dwight lodged in the Austin Presbyterian Seminary
dormitory was with a roommate by the name of Will Morriss. Will was from a Presbyterian
family in San Antonio, but he was in Austin as a student at the University of Texas
Law School when Will and Dwight were roommates. Later, Will
married and had a son name Ed, who became a Drake Fraternity brother of mine in
1957-1959 in my days as a student at that Presbyterian school in Sherman,
Texas, Austin College. Ed graduated. However, he met a tragic death in the
Air Force during the Viet Nam era when the aircraft in which he was being
transported disappeared into the depths of the Pacific Ocean, never to be found
again. His sister, Molly, also became an Austin College graduate whom I knew
there. She later married a Fraternity Brother of mine, David C. Duncan. David
subsequently graduated from Austin Theological Seminary and served a career as
a Presbyterian pastor, including the church at Georgetown, Texas, my father's
home church. It was David who assisted me in locating the records of my
fatherÕs examination by that Session in my fatherÕs application for Ministry
Candidate status.
My
father and mother were married in her home living room in Lufkin, Angelina
County, Texas on May 26, 1926, immediately following their graduations from
college and seminary. Though married in Angelina County by the Rev. Mr.
H. M. Bevel, their marriage license, Texas Certificate #19260134, Record
#55104, was acquired through Williamson County, Dwight's home county.
That is where the certificate was filed on June 1st.
Dwight
spent his career continuously serving, mostly in Texas, as pastor of churches
in this order: Laredo (1926), Little Rock (Arkansas 1929), Ballinger (1935),
Houston (1941), Sweetwater (1951), Dallas (1954), San Antonio (1958), Ruidoso
(New Mexico (1963), and finally at Houston (1965) for a new church development.
In several of these cities, he was a member of Rotary International, a community service
organization of business and professional people associated across the world.
From my memory, they included Dallas (Fair Park Club), Sweetwater and San
Antonio (nearby to Ballinger), and probably included other communities without
my recollection or knowledge. In Laredo, it was the First Presbyterian Church. In Little Rock, it was
the Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church. ItÕs presently in a
newer location and building than when he served there.
The Arkansas Gazette, Little
Rock, Arkansas, Texas on February 8, 1929, page 8, reported that the Rev.
Dwight A. Sharpe, age 27, accepted the pastorate of the Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church as of March 1.
His first sermon was to be preached on Sunday, March 3, 1929. The article said that Rev. Sharpe
accepted the church's call by telegram!
It said his pastoring had been for three years in Laredo, Texas after
graduating from the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas. It also cited his graduation from the
University of Texas, including one year each at the University of Kentucky and at Southwestern University of Georgetown, Texas. Rev.
Sharpe succeeds the pastorate of the Rev. Mr. C. A. Harper, who'd resigned in
the Fall of 1928 to take a pastorate in Louisiana.
His pastoral activities appeared in
the newspapers occasionally. In the Arkansas Gazette, Saturday, June 1, 1929, page 14, an article cited the expected
sermons for the following Sunday. One
of the pastors was Dwight Sharpe, Pastor of the Pulaski Heights Presbyterian
Church, located at Woodlawn Avenue and Walnut Street. The Sunday 11:00 AM sermon was to be
"The First Breakfast," and the 8:00 PM sermon was to be "An
Honest Doubter." The same newspaper had an article about his sermons to be
October 4, 1930 at 11:00 AM, "To Serve or Not to Serve," and at 7:30
PM, "Not Your Battle, But God's." (Saturday, October 2, 1930, page
22)
In Ballinger, it was the
First Presbyterian Church. This was a special
place for our family and his ministry. I was born there and baptized there! The
family had an old Chevrolet automobile of about a 1931 vintage. When it came
time for Dwight to respond to a pastoral call to move the family to Houston,
Texas, the Ballinger congregation generously responded by providing the funds
from among its members to purchase a brand new 1941 Chevrolet sedan! That was
quite Providential, as 1941 was the last year that American automobiles were
produced, due to the constraints of World War II starting. It is doubtful that
the old 1931 Chevy would have made it through the War years of 1942-46. God's
Provision is perfect, isn't it? Our family drove that car till 1948!
The
photograph was taken to create the SharpeÕs Christmas Card greeting for the
Christmas of 1938. I would have
been a developing fetus in my MotherÕs tummy at this time, being born the
following June. DaddyÕs hobby
developing in that era was photography.
Not only did he take photographs, he also constructed a Òdark roomÓ to
develop from film his own photographs.
This 1938 Christmas Card was the first of a series of traditional card
he produced every Christmas up to 1980!
HereÕs another Christmas, 1944, wherein I was present as a 3_ year old
boy!
In
Houston, it was the Central Park Presbyterian Church that changed its name to Trinity Presbyterian Church when it changed
location in 1950. Today, it has merged with a predominately Hispanic
constituency church, and has the name, in that same location, of the San Pablo-Trinity Presbyterian Church. In Sweetwater, it was the First
Presbyterian Church. In Dallas, it was the John Knox Presbyterian Church. This
was the church where many of my fond memories reside, as it was during my high
school years, and my experiences of growing up emotionally and having dating
experiences were strong. In San Antonio, it was the Highland Park Presbyterian
Church. In Ruidoso, it was the Ruidoso Presbyterian Church. In Houston again, it
was the Garden Oaks Presbyterian Church. It was a new church development of the
Presbytery. Unfortunately, it did not survive long after his 1968 retirement.
Over
the years, during some of the familyÕs vacations times, Dwight studied toward
earning a Theological MasterÕs degree from the Austin Theological Seminary,
Austin, Texas. This was achieved
and recognized at the graduation commencement services in Austin, May 18-21,
1952. He was one of five ordained
Presbyterian Pastors awarded MasterÕs degrees that year. Here is the program. He had TWO theses produced and
approved. The first one was ÒThe idea of God in the Old Testament.Ó The second
thesis was ÒArthur Gray Jones: Nobleman of God.Ó
After
my arriving in Dallas, Texas as a staff member at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in 1982, I was visited
by an Elder of the church, Mr. Austin B. Watson. He gave me a copy of a telephone
directory page, complete with photographs of those listed, of the 1955 Fair Park Rotary Club of Dallas. Austin, still a member of that club, had been
there when my father was a member. It was so nice of him to give me the page
where my Dad was listed, along with his photograph. Austin went on to join
Dwight in heaven in 2003.
Dwight
was a reconciler and a rebuilder of churches. Many of his calls were to
churches that had experienced some sort of setback in the immediate past, and
his coming helped things get mended in the church's ministries.
A
married couple at Trinity Church in Houston went to the mission field in the
Belgium Congo 1951-1968. Eric S. Bolton was an architect and his wife, Ruth
Lomig Bolton, was an administration worker. Missions was a strong emphasis for
Dwight's ministry and for Texas Presbyterian Churches.
Retired
missionary Winnifred K. Vass compiled a roster in 1986 of all 427 Presbyterian
missionaries who had served over the years in the Presbyterian Congo Mission.
Texas was represented by 65 (15%) of all who had gone from 30 states. This
certainly is a disproportionately large share from Texas, representing more
than twice what would be the average.
Winney,
spent her retired life as a member of Highland Park Presbyterian Church and
she, along with her missionary husband, Lachlin Vass, lived at Presbyterian
Village North in Dallas, a retirement community that many of the people of
Highland Park Presbyterian Church were included in its development. Lach Vass,
Winnie's husband, was on the HPPC Business Office staff when I arrived, then he
retired in 1983. I selected his son-in-law, Mr. Todd W. Rutenbar, to take Lach's place, working with me as my
Assistant Business Manager. Todd was still on the staff there, when I retired
in2004, and still is there in 2018 as this is written.
My
Father's last call in the ministry was to be the establishing evangelist for a
new church development in Houston, Texas under what then was known as Brazos
Presbytery (now known as New Covenant Presbytery). "Brazos,"
his Presbytery in Houston, means "arms" or "hugs" in
Spanish, as my niece Frances Barton Boggess tells me.
Dad
assumed the position of Evangelist and organizing pastor for the Presbytery for
the church to be Gulf Meadows Presbyterian Church at 8000 Fuqua Street at
Ballantine in distant southwest Houston. He assumed the post on April 3, 1966,
and got a good start, even having a handful of members who formerly were at
Central on Sherman Avenue and at Trinity Presbyterian Church at 7000 Lawndale
in earlier years (1941-51) when he pastored there.
Unfortunately,
the pastor following him experienced personal problems that ultimately resulted
in the church disbanding. The church had had a good start, but was not yet
strong enough to survive such a bump in the road. I think that pastor got too
organized. Though I never met that pastor, he was the brother of a young lady I dated a few times while we were students at Austin
College in Sherman, Texas. Both she and her husband became good, productive
members of a prominent church in Houston and assumed leadership roles. Her first
husband, Tom Flannagan, was a friend from my high school in Dallas and was my
freshman and sophomore year roommate at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. Tom
died from an early illness at about age 35, so she remarried.
The
invitation letter for Dwight's retirement services, dated April 8,1968, was
received by various members of our family. It came from Reuben Meeks, Committee
Chairman at the Gulf Meadows Presbytery Church and who was a former member of
our Trinity Presbyterian Church. His retirement reception was the afternoon of
April 28, 1968 at the church. It was a wonderful occasion for our family to
attend. This was the conclusion of forty-two years as a Presbyterian pastor.
Suzanne and I, along with our two children (Todd wasn't born yet), were there.
Dwight
and Martha had purchased a home for retirement in San Antonio (Alamo Heights).
It was at 201 Normandy, just a couple blocks west of Broadway, a major
north-south street. Since it was purchased more than a year prior to planned
retirement, it was leased to tenants. Unfortunately, when they finally retired,
the renters, for some reason not acceptable to Dwight and Martha, were unable
to vacate the house on time. Dwight and Martha had to make temporary digs do
till they could get over this frustration.
This
was their last home and a lovely home it was in a lovely neighborhood of San
Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. Actually it was in a
suburb named Alamo Heights, a city surrounded by San Antonio. They were just
two blocks from the Alamo Heights Presbyterian Church, which they made as
their church home. He was used to teach an Adult Sunday School Class up until
about six months prior to his death at age 79, which gave him good outlets to
use his pastoral gifts. The pastoral staff also used him for visitation and
other duties useful for the ministry of the church. This was volunteer work, to
my knowledge, and a labor of love for him. Suzanne and I visited that home
again in 2018, as the photo illustrates.
A great deal of renovation had taken place, but the front looked similar to the days of my parentsÕ residence.
His primary hobby
through many of the years of his life was photography. It manifested itself to
most people through the hundreds of unique Christmas cards with family members
that he created for over 30 years. He used the typewriter for much for his
correspondence, Bible study and sermon preparation. It was an ancient Underwood
manual typewriter, on which he typed using what we laughingly called the Bible
Method .... he would seek and find! He may have been one of the fastest typists
using only the index fingers of his two hands that I have ever witnessed.
Finally, around the mid 1970's, he acquired a portable electric typewriter from
Sears!
He
was a prolific reader, both of periodicals and of books. He held his children
to high standards for academic achievement, and that was successful for his
daughters. My academic records were far over shadowed by those of my two
sisters.
Dwight
involved himself in the communities where the family lived. He would join civic
organizations and do joint ministries with other churches. He often became
known in the public media, as evidenced by this delightful column by Renwick
Cary in the "San Antonio Light" newspaper issue of August 4, 1963:
"Back to the word
'breeches' (pounced britches by many Texans) and its use in several places in
different versions of the Bible. Rev. Dwight A. Sharpe, pastor of the Highland
Park Presbyterian Church, notes there was one edition of the Geneva Bible (1560)
that became popularly known as the 'breeches Bible." This because
'breeches' appeared in Genesis 3:7. The verse concluded: 'And they (Adam and
Eve) sewed fig tree leaves together and made them breeches as a matter of fact,
however, Sharpe says, the same rendering of the verse was found in the Wycliffe
Bible (1380).
"Still, on the subject of Bibles of the centuries past, we are
reminded that the first printed copy of the whole Bible was the Coverdale Bible
of 1535. Sharpe says: 'It's a credit to the printers that there were few
typographical errors in the early Bibles.' Even so, he reports, in the second
edition of the Geneva Bible (1562), Matthew 5:9 was made to read: 'Blessed are
the placemakers, instead of peacemakers.' As a consequence,
collectors designated this as the 'Placemaker Bible.' Sharpe also tells of a
'Printer's Bible,' explaining: 'This was the name applied to the King James
edition of 1653, because in Psalms119:161, King David was made to say:
'Printers have persecuted me without cause.' It should have read, 'princes,' of
course."
Both
Dwight and Martha were very quiet regarding the subject of politics. They felt
that whatever political views they held should not become known to the public
of their congregation, since ministry was still to be given to people of all
political persuasions. They did not even allow me to know how they voted or
what political party they supported until well into my adult life, after I
became an active Republican and Dad had retired from the ministry. Dad told me
that they had always voted Republican. Living in what was virtually an all
Democratic Party state in Texas most of their lives, it was best for his
ministry to keep that to themselves. I recall that many of our close family
friends were active Democrats and Labor Union members (particularly in the
Houston years of the 1940's), and that did not affect our opportunity to have
close Christian relationships with them.
When
Dwight died, he was found in bed on August 8, 1981. That has been the official
published date of his death, as that is when he was found and the public
officials proclaimed him deceased. However, judging from when it was reported
by neighbors that he was last seen, and by the dates on accumulated newspapers
and mail at his home, he apparently passed away in his sleep on the night of
Sunday, August 2nd, two years to the day that Martha also went to be with our
Lord in her sleep. He lacked a month of reaching his 80th birthday. It seems
appropriate for him to enter the Gates of Heaven on a day of worship!
Dwight's
funeral was conducted by the Rev. Mr. Newton Cox, pastor of the Alamo Heights
Presbyterian Church of San Antonio, Texas, and assisted by an old friend of
Dwight's, a retired minister, the Rev. Mr. John Parse. Two of my friends from
high school days attended, Jewell (Judy) Linn Shoup Shannon and Dr. Richard
(Dick) Hall White. The funeral was at the church at 10:00 AM on August 12, and
the graveside service was later in the day in Georgetown, Williamson County,
Texas, some 110 miles away. He rested next to his wife, and near his parents
and other relatives at the Odd Fellows Cemetery, near the campus of
Southwestern University. This is the college where he attended his sophomore
year and where his great granddaughter, Victoria (Vicky) Lea Reeves attended,
having entered as a freshman in 2003.
On
October 20, 1981, the Session of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Houston, Texas,
passed a resolution that on Sunday, November 15, Dwight would be honored and
memorialized for his faithful decade of service there with the dedication of a
pew. His daughter, Martha, and her husband, Vic, attended the dedication
service on November 15,1981 at the church to represent the family. During his
ministry there, according to the Sessional Resolution, Dwight received 312
members by transfer of church membership, 164 members by profession of faith in
Jesus Christ (I was one of those on Palm Sunday, March 18, 1951!), baptizing 91
of those, baptizing 99 infants and receiving 11 of their parents on profession
of faith at the same time. Under his ministry, three young men made commitments
to the Gospel Ministry and one couple went to the mission field in the Congo.
He administered infant baptism to all nine of his grandchildren.
Dwight
lived to see one of his great grandchildren, Matthew, son of Kevin and Nancy
Reeves. Nancy is the daughter of Dwight's daughter, Martha. We are proud of
Matthew in the family sense, as he married Libby and they went on to give issue
to the first eighth generation Texan member of our family in 2005, Benjamin
Thomas Reeves. He now has a second son, Zachary, and now Grace has joined their
family. Nancy is the Pastor of the Grace Presbyterian Church of Round Rock, Williamson County, Texas. Matthew's
younger brother, Christopher Thomas Reeves, now is married to Jessica Robyn
Radachy Reeves.
Dwight
Alfred Sharpe was a man of unquestioned integrity and was known as a man with a
pastor's heart. He provided well for his family, raising children who were a
credit to their parents' Christian values. My regret is not spending more time
with him, especially in our adult years. Physical distances of living kept us
from enjoying that as much as we should have.
Notes
for Martha Dixon Chapman:
My
mother, Martha, was born April 5, 1904, the year that Theodore Roosevelt had his first election
to the Presidency of the United States, after having succeeding William
McKinley who was assassinated while President. This was the year that author
Jack London published The Sea-Wolf. Puccini's Madame Butterfly opera opened in Milan,
Italy. Work began on the Panama Canal. The Rolls-Royce Company was founded in England.
Helen Keller graduated from Radcliffe College and the Broadway subway opened in New York
City.
(Source:
"The Timetables of History" 3rd Revised Edition, Bernard Grun, Simon
& Schuster, New York 1991, pages 456-457)
Martha
was born in her Lufkin home at 419 Abney Avenue. Living on a street with your
family name is a hint as to the place the family held in the eye of the
community. Her mother's maiden name was Abney. Her church life was in the First
Methodist Church. Martha was ages five and 21 when her parents died, which was
a hardship. She and her younger brother, Herschell Albert Chapman, were raised
after Mother's 1909 death (Maggie was her nickname from Margaret Lavina Abney)
by their grandmother and grandfather, Martha Jane Dixon Abney and James William
Abney. Dr. James Herschell Chapman, their father, resided with them in the
Abney home for a while.
Martha
Jane Dixon Abney, Martha's grandmother, was widowed in 1913, and Dr. Chapman
soon moved out from the house. He had been much older than his wife, Maggie,
actually being only one year younger than his mother-in-law, Martha Jane Dixon
Abney. Family oral tradition reported that he felt it was more appropriate to
move out, as it did not reflect the proper appearances for an unmarried man and
woman so close in age to be domiciled together.
Maggie
continued to raise his children, Herschell and Martha, in her home. After Dr.
Chapman married the third and last time, to a woman named Josephine, his
contacts with the Abney family apparently became somewhat detached, or at least
the recording of continuing relationship has not been identified by me.
Martha
had a high school teacher of science named Mr. Blevins. It is of interest to
know that he also taught me in Dallas, Dallas County, Texas during my ninth
grade in 1954, at Alex W. Spence Junior High School. There is also a Miss
Bess Wood of Lufkin who taught at that same Dallas school at the time, and who
remembers my being there. She is Lillian's Aunt, Tempy Wood Abney's sister.
Bess was born March 17,1897. In 1987, Bess resided at the Angelina Nursing Home.
Martha
attended the University of Texas at Austin, graduating in June of 1925. On the
certified copy I have of the information she completed with her application to
college, on the blank requesting her home address, said No Street Address. When you live on the street bearing your family
name (Abney) and you are the only "mansion" on it, apparently there
is no need for an address back then. You could just address a letter to them in
Lufkin! Such were the days!
She
was elected a member of the honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, according to the certified college transcript
copy, the first scholastic fraternity in America. Phi Beta Kappa was organized
at the College of William and Mary in
Williamsburg, Virginia on December 5,1776.
She
had a double major in Latin and Greek. She was then engaged to fellow
University of Texas student and Austin Theological Presbyterian Seminary
student, Dwight Alfred Sharpe. She taught in the Lufkin Public Schools the
ensuing year after graduation.
Martha's
education was in the classics, which was the usual major for the very few women
of that day who were privileged to attend college. Martha and her husband-to-be
would be the first generation of our family to graduate from the University of
Texas. Now, three generations have graduated from there and a fourth maybe is
on his way!
Growing
out of that refined education was her skill in writing. I cherish the one
"love letter" that came into my possession only in recent years that
my Mother sent to my Father during the year that she taught school in Lufkin
and he completed his Seminary studies in Austin before they married. Here is
how the letter of October 20,1925 went:
"Dearest
Sweetheart
"Please
forgive me for writing on this paper. I'm in a powerful big hurry and can't
hunt for any more. Last night I had so many papers to grade that I got sleepy
and went to bed without ever writing to the sweetest person on earth. I thought
about you, dearest, between papers and the last thing before I went to sleep,
and the first thing this morning. Honey, you're in my heart all the time. I'm
going to scribble this off just so it can be mailed this morning, and it won't
be late. Tell me if you get it tomorrow morning.
"I'm
the happiest thing, because I had a sweet letter waiting for me from your
mother yesterday when I came in from school. Dwight, already I just love her to
death. Don't tell your father, but she said when he read my first letter, he
said "Well, I'm kinda left out on this deal." She said he was a
little jealous, but said she was to send his love anyway. Now I just believe I
will write him a little note or letter all to himself. I may enclose it with
your next letter and you can give it to him when you pass through Georgetown
Saturday. Is that all right? You know how easy it is for women to talk to each
other, but because I'd never met him, I just felt a timidity in writing.
"The
funny thing about it is that I was writing to your mother the same time she was
writing to me. Guess she received mine yesterday too.
"Sweetheart,
love me lots and don't blame me for writing like this. I just had so much work.
I'll promise never to let it happen again. I'll write again tomorrow night.
"Must
hurry up and eat breakfast now. Want to eat with me? I built the fire this
morning.
Lovingly,
Your own Martha"
Well,
how's that for good romantic narrative?! Wonderful!
Serving
as wife of the Pastor suited Martha well. She loved living the role and the
people loved her doing it. After marriage, her only gainful employment was as a
public school teacher in Houston, Harris County, Texas during the 1940's World
War II years when there were such shortages of people to teach. During her
daughters' high school years, she served as adult sponsor for the High School
Youth Fellowship at the Central Park Presbyterian Church, located in the 6900
block of Sherman, a couple of blocks east of 75th Street, near Wayside
Boulevard. Fondly remembered by me are the summer trips on the weekends when
the whole Sharpe family and the Youth Fellowship spent all day Saturdays at Stuart's Beach in Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico.
One of my favorite memories were the many times when we went riding on the old
fashioned wooden roller coaster near the beach!
Reading
was also an avocation for Martha. She "screened" much material for
Dwight, marking articles and books she though it would be good for him to read.
She truly was a helpmate for her husband in all of the best senses of that
concept. She was a lady of the South in all of its good senses of culture and
heritage. And she was a wonderful mother to me, always holding up the bar for
me to climb higher for better things, and to know God and our role with Him.
Her
remains left behind when she graduated to heaven are deposited in the grave
site adjacent to her husband in the Georgetown Cemetery, near Southwestern
University, Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas.
Dwight
Alfred Sharpe and Martha Dixon Chapman had the following children:
MARTHA DE
NOAILLES2 SHARPE (daughter of
Dwight Alfred Sharpe and Martha Dixon Chapman) was born on 07 Sep 1927 in Laredo,
Webb County, Texas. She died on 17 Jan 2002 in Round Rock, Williamson County,
Texas. She married Victor Marcus Ehlers (son of Victor Marcus Ehlers and Edith
A. Amberg) on 06 Sep 1947 in Central Park Presbyterian Church, Houston, Harris
County, Texas. It later became Trinity Presbyterian Church. He was born on 25
May 1923. He died on 26 Apr 1985 in Austin, Travis County, Texas.
ELIZABETH ANNE
SHARPE (daughter of Dwight Alfred Sharpe and Martha Dixon Chapman) was born
on 09 Aug 1929 in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas. She died on 28 Dec
1973 in Saint Louis, Missouri. She married Andrew Albert Jumper (son of William
David Jumper and Irma Belle Nason) on 14 Aug 1948 in Central Park Presbyterian
Church, Houston, Harris County, Texas. He was born on 11 Sep 1927 in Marks
Quitman County, Mississippi. He died on 28 May 1992 in Chesterfield, Saint
Louis County, Missouri.
DWIGHT ALBERT
SHARPE (son of Dwight Alfred Sharpe and Martha Dixon Chapman) was born on
24 Jun 1939 in Ballinger, Runnels County, Texas. He married Suzanne Margaret
Boggess Sharpe (daughter of Thomas Shelton Boggess and Alice Loraine McElroy)
on 30 Sep 1962 in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. She was born on 02
Apr 1938 in Griffin, Spaulding County, Georgia.
There
is a 77-page report here that details the descendants from Dwight Alfred
Sharpe for four generations.
Compiled by their son,
805
Derting Road, Aurora, TX 76078-3712
817-504-6508
