The Bess Jenkins Club met Jan. 8 at Pine Bluff Country Club. Sandy Poore, president, called the meeting to order and led the group in the reciting of the club motto.
Lela Murray, program chairwoman, introduced the speaker, the Rev. Ken Thornton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Pine Bluff, where he has served since Jan. 1, 2013.
Thornton received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1982 from Central Baptist College at Conway and a Master of Divinity degree in 1989 from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary at Memphis, according to a news release.
He completed a full-year residency in clinical pastoral education in 2006 at Wilford Hall Medical Center at San Antonia, Texas. He also received a Master of Arts degree in management and leadership in 2007 from Webster University at St. Louis, Missouri. He is married to the former Ann Johnson of England, Ark., and they have two sons, and four grandchildren.
At the Bess Jenkins Club, Thornton’s program was, “Confident Hope of Peace – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Longfellow composed the words to the Christmas carol, ‘I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” on December 25, 1864. The carol was originally a poem entitled ‘Christmas Bells,’ which reflected Longfellow’s despair and grief during the years of the American Civil War and his confident hope of peace. The poem was the result of his feelings about the war, the tragic death of his wife, Fanny, and the crippling injury of his son, Charles, from war wounds. Fanny Longfellow had died from burns received in a fire in 1861, the same year the Civil War began. According to reports, Fanny’s dress had accidentally caught fire, and when Longfellow tried to put the fire out, he was severely burned in the face, on his arms and hands. Tragically, Fanny died the next day,” according to the presentation.
“On December 1, 1864, Longfellow received word that his oldest son, Charles, a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac had been wounded in the battle of New Hope Church, Virginia. One of Longfellow’s familiar poems was ‘Paul Revere’s Ride,’” according to the presentation..
According to Rev. Thornton, the poem was not historically accurate, but it helped to make Paul Revere into an American legend. Another familiar one is the epic poem, “The Song of Hiawatha,” which he wrote in 1865 about the fictional adventure of a warrior named Hiawatha.
After the program, the members were served dessert and coffee. The hostesses for the meeting were Jeanette McGrew, Helen Campbell, Mandy Alford and Ann Thompson.