The church’s one foundation

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Thursday, July 6th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Paul Butler.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: A lifetime of change.

Times have changed a lot over the last 80 years, from world wars to the invention of the World Wide Web. For many of us, that’s history book stuff. But for three women in Asheville, North Carolina, it was all part of growing up.

BUTLER: These three women still live in the same town they did when Harry Truman was president. Through decades of change, they’ve committed themselves to their church and the faithfulness of God.

WORLD’s reporting producer Lillian Hamman has their story.

LILLIAN HAMMAN, REPORTER: The sun has just crested over the Blue Ridge mountains in Asheville, North Carolina on a June Sunday. At Grace Baptist Church, beams of light fall through vivid stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible.

MUSIC: [He Leadeth Me]

Some of the people here in the sanctuary are just visiting for the morning. But anyone who’s been at the church for a little while will recognize three voices coming from a pew in the back.

ELAINE DUNCAN: My name is Elaine Duncan. I'm 81 years old. I'm from Asheville.

BARBARA FELMET: I'm Barbara Felmet, I'm 84 years old. And I was born in Buncombe County.

BARBARA KANIPE: I'm Barbara Kanipe. And I'm 83 years old. And I was born in Asheville…

LILLIAN HAMMAN: And how long have you all been at Grace Baptist?

BARBARA KANIPE: 75 years.

ELAINE DUNCAN: 75 years.

BARBARA FELMET: 75 years.

Elaine and the Barbaras met in Sunday school in 1947. It was Grace Baptist’s founding year. Things have changed a lot in the world since then. But through decades of time and eras of history, the three friends have stayed faithful—to the church, their faith, and each other.

In 1947, America was still recovering from World War Two.

BARBARA KANIPE: I remember that my uncles were coming home and one of them had been in the Battle of the Bulge. I remember that my parents being so happy, and I wasn't quite sure what what they were happy about it. But it was the end of World War Two.

After splitting from another church down the street, Grace Baptist didn’t have a building of its own. The congregation gathered in a variety of buildings at first. That same year, the girls watched their parents and other church members sacrifice everything to buy property for the church.

ELAINE DUNCAN: My mother and daddy, they mortgaged their house to buy bonds to help buy this property.

BARBARA FELMET: A lot of them did.

718 Haywood Road is where Grace Baptist still gathers today.

ELAINE DUNCAN: I've never been to another church so I don’t know my mother and daddy brought me here when I was five years old.

BARBARA FELMET: It's just home. I mean, it's where we grew up. It's way different than it used to be. But it's still our home.

On Saturdays, Elaine and the Barbaras came to the church with their mothers … to mop the linoleum floors and wash the nursery toys for the service the next day. Sometimes, though, the girls went rogue.

BARBARA KANIPE: We came up one Saturday. We drank some of the communion juice. And so...

BARBARA FELMET: Shame on you.

BARBARA KANIPE: Barbara wasn't there. She was nicer. So we decided that we were probably condemned for life. (laughing)

Around town in West Asheville, or “Best Asheville,” as the girls call it, they went to movies for 9 cents at the theater across the bridge, and got fitted for new pairs of Buster Browns at Meadow’s Dry Goods store.

BARBARA KANIPE: And you put your feet in an x ray machine to see what size shoe you were

BARBARA FELMET: Oh, yeah, you can look down and let's see your bones and everything.

AUDIO: [PORTIA FACES LIFE]

They would listen to radio shows like Portia Faces Life, and watch TVs playing in store windows.

Except on Sundays.

BARBARA KANIPE: We kept the Sabbath very holy.

BARBARA FELMET: You didn't cook on Sunday. You prepared on Saturday. You didn't play anything on Sunday. You didn't go anywhere on Sunday.

Except to Grace Baptist Church. The girls went twice every Sunday, year after year, even as Asheville grew and changed around them.

Growing up, Barbara Felmet remembers only being afraid of a neighbor’s mean dog named Trouble. Now, the city of Asheville’s rate of violent crime is higher than the national average.

Felmet mourns that lost way of life.

BARBARA FELMET: I wish if I had a wish that would come true that we could go back for just a little while just a little. Those were the best days.

But as difficult as it is to watch the good things change, the women all agree there were problems that needed to go.

BARBARA KANIPE: We were segregated in school. But the first time I ever realized about racism, I was getting on the bus. And a woman at our little boy, black woman and a little boy were getting on the bus. And they had to sit at the back.

ELAINE DUNCAN: I can remember they had drinking fountains too. And it said, white and colored. We didn’t have any blacks in the church.

BARBARA FELMET: At one point, the pastor that was here. He tried to meet with another pastor of a black church, and we had meetings and went and had discussions and, you know, we'll, we'll come to each other's churches and maybe sing in the choir or something like that. And it never panned out. I mean, maybe a few came a few times, and then it was right back the same way it was.

Today, Elaine and the Barbaras share the same wooden pews together as they did that first time 75 years ago. Grace Baptist Church looks very different than it did when they were growing up. There’s no longer a choir, six different pastors with different theologies have preached from the pulpit, and they’ve come within a few months of closing their doors with debt. But even through its ups and downs, the women are still committed to this church.

ELAINE DUNCAN: My mother and daddy sacrificed for it. And it means a lot to me. And I just don't want to jump ship.

BARBARA FELMET: Whether I like what's going on, or I don't like what's going on, this is God's house. And I've been here my whole life and I don't intend to go anywhere else. I've learned to just live with it. Just live with it. And just keep, keep loving the Lord and keep my friends close. And we all do fine.

MUSIC: [All I have is Christ]

They’re committed to the church, but more importantly, they’re committed to the God who never changes.

BARBARA FELMET: I trust in the Lord, and I think Elaine and Barbara would agree, we are passing it on to you who are here.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lillian Hamman in Asheville, North Carolina.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.