THIS IS MY LIFE
Elder Charles Holmes
I was born May 21, 1932, a few miles east of the town in which I now live. My town, Mena, Arkansas, is located 85 miles south of Fort Smith near the Oklahoma border. I was born a member of the family of Ora L. and Cora A. Bates Holmes. Theirs was a family of ten children. Four children were of my father’s first wife, Ida Cox Holmes. I am the next youngest of Cora’s six children.
In March of 1932, my folks were working in the field when a fire destroyed everything in the house where they lived. My family was living in a make-shift house when I was born into this world. As far back as I can remember, we were poor but happy people. My dad farmed, and moved several times in my childhood. I can remember moving from the Watkins place to the McDermont place on Highway 8. I recall telling my mom, “I want to go back to us’s house.” I also remember the sadness of losing a horse we loved, named Dan.
Somewhere about this time we attended a meeting at Big Fork, Arkansas. I remember standing by my mother’s side as they sang, “Jerusalem, my happy home.” That was my first religious experience I can bring to memory. From the depths of my soul, I felt that there is something wonderful beyond this life. I cannot describe this feeling and spiritual experience.
Somewhere near Christmas in 1938, we were attending a program at the school or the church nearby. At this event, I remember the singing of the song, “Oh, little town of Bethlehem.” My second religious experience was on this occasion. As they sang the song, the words, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight,” left a deep impression in my mind. I felt that they were singing of a Saviour in which the hopes of all the years were placed. I consider these events in my childhood to be personal with me, as my brothers and sisters did not seem to be moved by them.
The war years found us moving to the Nunley area east of Mena. One sad event I remember is the losing of my older brother in battle in the Pacific. It broke my mother’s heart to lose her firstborn son.
I went into the service in August of 1951. After four years in the Navy, my enlistment expired and I came back to my hometown, where I met the girl of my life, Betty Lou Davis. She had come a thousand miles from the north (Minnesota) to visit her grandparents, and I had come two thousand miles from California. We met in September 1955, shortly after her 19th birthday. I knew she was the one God had given me to spend my life with. We were married on October 21, 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas. We were two wild kids 19 and 23 years of age. She is still beautiful today.
My wife came up the rough way. Her mother died when she was about a year old, and her father was killed in a truck accident when she was ten. She has many unhappy memories of childhood. She keeps us all going today. When we think things are bad, she has been where they were worse.
Sometime in 1961, my wife and I moved to San Diego and both worked at jobs there. It was on this occasion that God taught me where my strength lay; and that if I ever found favor with him, it would have to come from a higher source than myself. I literally became a beggar before God. Oh, those precious moments of peace I would enjoy when God would give me relief!
After we returned home to Mena because of my dad’s failing health, we were attending the Primitive Baptist Church in town. We had not yet been blessed to have children. My wife received a promise from the Lord that if we would do our duty and take up our cross in God’s service, we would have a child. As we were having the Salem Association in Mena in 1962, we joined the church and were baptized in October that year by Elder M. A. Norman, our family’s pastor.
Very shortly after we were baptized, we received word of a child that was to be born, and could be given out for adoption. We began working on this promise, and I made my first efforts to speak in the name of my Lord. My first attempt was from Romans Chapter Nine. I was scared on this occasion and hope there will never be a time when my duty will not be serious with me. The answer of God’s promise to my wife came on January 25, 1963. Our son, James Calvin Holmes, brought us great joy.
Shortly after I began to exercise my calling, the church gave me an appointment with another brother. The other brother soon called in his appointment and tried to get me to do the same. I felt duty bound to continue speaking in the name of the Lord, which I did for about six years without recognition or financial support. As I began to exercise my gift, traveling among God’s people, I would often be asked, “You can preach; why haven’t you been ordained?” I went through this sad situation until I took my family and moved to Clinton, Arkansas, in 1970, and put our membership in Bethlehem Church at Bee Branch.
The lowest mental state in my life I experienced at this time. By the grace of God and his help, I continued to preach and support my family, working in a garment factory. I soon became pastor of the church, and was ordained April 25, 1971, by the good brethren in the Mountain Springs Association, many of whom have gone to be with the Lord. We later moved to Quitman, and I continued to serve the church at Bee Branch and fill appointments at other churches in the area.
We moved back to Mena in 1978, to the Acorn community, where we now live. I pastored churches in Kirby, Waldron, Board Camp and Alpine, Arkansas. My wife and I have maintained a membership in Fellowship Church at Waldron for several years. We have enjoyed the fellowship of Primitive Baptists from coast to coast and from Texas to Nebraska. This year we have been to five associations, very good meetings indeed.
We are celebrating our fiftieth wedding anniversary October 21st. May God bless you all in his service. [Condensed from a manuscript. This dear elder is a member within the bounds of our home association, the Salem. We appreciate greatly his faithfulness and that of his dear companion. – Ed.] Submitted by Elder Mark Green