CAMERON — The little white church celebrates its bicentennial on Sunday at the crossroads of Moore and Harnett counties.
“We would love to have you come join in the Kirkin of the Tartans procession and 200th homecoming celebration,” Mary Smith, a longtime member, was saying Wednesday about the 11 a.m. service at Cypress Springs Presbyterian Church that has so long been a part of my very essence.
Most all of my folks are buried in the cemetery — Uncle Alex, Uncle Angus, Aunt Jane, Aunt Effie, Uncle Danny, Uncle Worth, Aunt Myrtle, Aunt Ethe, Aunt Mary Frank, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, and Mama. Mama loved the little white church, and we spent many a day there walking across the cemetery, where the briars always seemed to put a run in Mama’s nylons.
There were plenty of homecoming lunches on the grounds out by the church, too, with memories of Aunt Julia sampling every pound cake or pie on the long tables.
“Julia!” my Uncle Les would exclaim in dismay when he would catch a glimpse of Aunt Julia’s overflowing paper plate, and then stand in disbelief as Aunt Julia would dab up the crumbs with her fingers and then head back to the table for another tour of the cakes and pies. Aunt Julia’s girth got bigger homecoming after homecoming after homecoming.
Mama was a McMillan born to the nearby Lobelia folks, but her mother was a McNeill, those upper-class folks who grew up in the white, two-story house with the wrap-around porch that still stands along N.C. 690, about three miles from the town of Vass.
My granddaddy married my grandmother, and he built by hand a wooden, white home up the way about a mile from town. Mama was born April 10, 1921, in the front bedroom of that home that finally gave way to demolition because the 1991 U.S. Open golf championship was going to be played at nearby Pinehurst No. 2. It broke Mama’s heart when the state bulldozed Mama’s homeplace.
… For Mama
But back to the tartans.
Mama always wanted me to carry the McNeill tartan on those Kirkin of the Tartans Sundays each year at the little white church. Seeing her son carry the McNeill tartan into the church always made Mama proud, and I never wanted to disappoint Mama.
“I have checked our older records and found that you carried the McNeill (Barra) tartan in our 2013 Kirkin ceremony,” Mary Smith reminded me this week.
That was less than four years after Mama died, and I remember it was emotional for me because I still was grieving the death of my Mama, but I knew she would have wanted me to carry the McNeill tartan.
After Mary Smith’s email on Wednesday, I kept coming up with reasons to convince myself not to participate. I spend a lot of time visiting my Mama’s grave just behind the little white church. You’ll find me there every April 10 for her birthday; every Dec. 17 on the anniversary of her death; every July 6 when I was born; every Mother’s Day without fail; and every Christmas Eve, when I’ll light a candle and just sit in the candlelight glow by her tombstone just so she’ll know I am with her.
I was crazy about my Mama.
For every good thing that came my way in life, I owe it to my Mama. For every success, my Mama was the proverbial wind beneath my wings. She was my beacon when I lost my way. She taught me how to put words to paper and how it mattered to write from the heart. She taught me to be fair. She taught me to be firm, but be tender of heart for others, too, and to never forget where I came from or the “good stock” from whence I came. Stock? I grew up thinking I was part of the farm cattle.
Anyway, I kept searching for excuses not to carry the McNeill tartan. But for every excuse, I kept hearing Mama calling.
“I am really busy with the political season,” I sent an email to Mary Smith, “but I will participate this Sunday for Mama.”
There will be 24 tartan-bearers this day, led by Clerk of the Session Parks Blake and Worship Committee chairwoman Violet Stewart, both of whom will lead the procession with the Cypress Church Family Tartan. Others will represent tartans of Beard, Blue, Cameron, Darrock, MacDonald, Glasgow, Graham of Montrose, Gunn, Johnson, Keith, MacDonald-Isle of Jura, MacKintosh, Mitchell, Munro, Smith and Stewart.
The Rev. Sam Stout will be the guest preacher, with his sermon titled “Revisiting the Stones.”
I spent a lot of time visiting the tombstones and footstones of my folks Saturday when delivering the yellow mums to the graves of my grandparents, my Uncle Worth, my Aunt Mary Frank, and, of course, Mama.
Epilogue
No need, Mama, for worry.
I’ll carry the McNeill tartan for you this day, like you would want for me to do.
Terry Meyers is testing those Scottish bagpipes and the church bell’s ring for today is near.
I gotta go to be at the little white church early.
I hear Mama calling.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
