Homer Hutchison Maxwell and Elma Jean Lorimer were married July 2, 1925. Later in life, they both wrote down their memories growing up as preacher’s kids and they give us a glimpse of what was life for them in the first quarter of the 20th century.
The following are their thoughts on this project and serve as an introduction to their stories. I’ve pretty much left everything as they wrote it, but have added notes, links and pictures add to their stories.
Homer
Preachers kids experience unusual lives. They are expected to be models of good behavior and lead sheltered lives. Their reputation is most often underserved and their escapades are exaggerated. It has been my impression, however, that many times the worst kids turn out to be the best preachers. I can think of several college students that were frequently in trouble in college and became prominent ministers or ministers’ wives.
So many changes have taken place during the course of our lives that it has occurred to me that a brief chronicle of the events which impressed us as children in our growing-up years may help some of our progeny to better understand themselves and the world about them. We hope they will get an inspiration to do as well if not better than their parents and grandparents.
Jean
I hope this chronicle will be not only entertaining but instructive. You should get an insight on life in the first quarter of the Twentieth Century. What changes took place in transportation, communications, mode of living, moral codes, etc. There is every likelihood that there will be corresponding advances hopefully or changes in the coupling twenty-five years just as there have been in the intervening fifty years which we may decide to make the third part of this history.
You will see that not everything was a “bed of roses”. There were disappointments as there always will be but I think we met them in true pioneering spirit of our forefathers, who came to a strange country to conquer the unknown. I think I can really say that I never hesitated to accept the challenge of a new job. Therein lay the joy of living. May it ever be so.
