| Sources |
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 27 Apr 2002.
Ruby Ogle King obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press.
For veteran, talking heals old wounds
By: CRAIG MINTZ November 06, 2005
*hing Herman King talks about a lot. In fact, he didn't even tell his children for more than 40 years after the war ended. Now, however, he finds talking heals old wounds. "The best way to forget about things is to talk it out," said King from an easy chair inside his Pigeon Forge home. Like many young men of his generation, King, now 80, had never been far from home, growing up on a farm between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. In 1943, as World War II raged across the oceans, King turned 18 and was drafted by the Army. He said goodbye to his wife of two years, Ruby Ogle King, and their two young sons and headed to Camp Fannin, Texas, for basic training. After being shifted around to Mississippi and Kentucky, King, a member of Company B 215th Infantry Training Battalion, finally shipped out from New York harbor on the Queen Elizabeth bound for England - his launching pad to combat on continental Europe. After fighting for several months on the coast of France, King advanced into Germany where his colonel "got the big idea" to take a town they happened upon. Going into the town - the name of which King never learned - the colonel realized radio contact had been lost and no artillery or tank support could be called in. Retreating in knee-deep snow, King and his fellow soldiers had to cross a wide-open field where German machine guns had already trained their sights. Realizing their predicament, King's superiors surrendered and he was captured, being forced to leave behind his best friend who had just lost both legs in combat. Now a prisoner in Nazi Stalag 12a, King was taken alone into a room for interrogation. "He could speak better English than I could," he said with a laugh about his German captor. Faced with a barrage of questioning, King stuck to his training - name, rank and serial number. "I wouldn't tell him anything," he said. Seeing he was getting nowhere, the German officer said, "You know I can make you stand outside all night without clothes on, don't you?" Fortunately King didn't have to, but his accommodations weren't much better. His prisoner barracks reminded him of a chicken coop. Each POW got a handful of straw and thin blanket spread out on cold concrete. Prisoners would sleep side-by-side in pairs to have a blanket on top of them and one under them. Interrogations continued, but King's questioning ended one day when an interrogator asked, "What're you going to do if we win the war?" "I said, 'You're not going to win the war,'" King said. "They didn't talk to me any more after that." Over about two and half months, while imprisoned and being forced to march away from advancing Allied forces, King suffered. His extremities succumbed to frostbite and he lost a half a pound a day on almost nonexistent rations. As the 3rd Armored Division approached the stalag, his German captors forced him and his fellow prisoners into box cars where they were locked in. King said American fighter pilots would strafe the box cars, blowing up one on his train that was full of ammunition. Seeing they were about to meet the same fate, he and his fellow prisoners busted the box car door open and stood on the open ground in a formation spelling POW. When the American pilot made his next pass, he saw the men and pulled up, King said. A reconnaissance plane then followed them as they were forced to march the rest of the day and night and into the next day further into the Black Forest. King said during the march that a fellow Sevier County soldier turned very sick and was about to lay down unable to walk any farther. Believing the man would be shot if he did, King and another Sevier County man, Daniel Hedrick, carried him the rest of the way to the town where they were soon liberated by U.S. forces pursuing the German army. Upon liberation, King got his head shaved and was dipped in a substance to get rid of the horrible body lice he and his fellow prisoners had. He was then flown back to France and then shipped on a 27-day journey back to the United States. While in the United States, King was prepared to be sent to the Pacific Theater when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. In 1945, Col. Herman King was honorably discharged. Adjusting to civilian life was not easy. "For years and years, I woke up every morning with it on my mind," he said of his experiences. King said he turned to drinking and began living a life that got him closer to death than when he was in the Army. "If it hadn't been for the good Lord, I wouldn't have been here," he said. It was during a revival at Gum Stand Baptist Church in 1950 that he turned to Jesus Christ. His life changed dramatically. "I accepted the Lord, and I've tried to follow him since," said King, who has led the choir at the church for more than 50 years. After returning from the war, King said he resumed farming his land until he couldn't make a living at that any more and turned to carpentry. His wife died four years ago. The pair raised four sons and three daughters. When asked what Veterans Day means to him, King said, "I'm American inside and out and that means a lot to me." * cmintz@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 10 Jul 2007.
Gum Stand celebrates past, looks to future
By: DEREK HODGES, Staff Writer
July 10, 2007
PIGEON FORGE - Women in floral-print dresses put out more than enough food to satisfy the hundreds in attendance while small children scampered around underfoot. Pretty girls in bright sundresses smiled from behind hymnals as old friends shook hands for the first time in years.
Sunday was homecoming at Gum Stand Baptist Church, a tradition as southern as the fried chicken church members and visitors ate after a nearly two hours-long worship service.
"Today is kind of like a birthday or an anniversary," Jimbo Whaley said as he began the service, leading the assembly in song. "We're celebrating God's work. This is a celebration and a wonderful time for our church."
The tradition of church homecomings, which dates back to at least the 1800s in America, remains an important part of faith life for many local congregations. It's an opportunity to reconnect with home and old friends, Gum Stand Pastor Ron Reagan says.
"It's for former members to come back and be a part of what's going on and be a part of God's work in their home again," he says. "It's also a time to remember those precious memories of folks who have gone on to be with the Lord over the years. A lot of our precious loved ones have gone on from this congregation."
In remembering those who have passed away, the homecoming tradition also provides a chance for the faithful to contemplate the homecoming of the saints to heaven promised in the Bible.
"Everybody's got different ideas as to what the homecoming represents, but to me it's kind of symbolic to the home-going of those who have gone on," said Tony Sutton, pastor of New Center Baptist Church and Gum Stand's guest preacher Sunday.
For Sutton, who grew up in the Gum Stand congregation before being called to serve at New Center, Sunday's homecoming was a special one.
"It's an honor for me to be here," he said. "I've been able to see a lot of people that I used to come to church with and just to be able to worship with them again is an honor to me."
Also among those taking part in the service was Herman King, the first person ever ordained at the church, which was organized Nov. 24, 1934, at the old McCookville schoolhouse. King, 82, has led choirs at the church for more than 50 years.
Gum Stand is far from the only church in Sevier County that clings to the homecoming tradition. Indeed, such services are spread throughout the summer months, from May all the way through September. Many smaller churches, devoid of fellowship halls, have constructed outdoor pavilions, home to picnic tables sheltered from rain and heat.
Those tables come in handy because, perhaps equally as important as the service itself, is the meal and fellowship that traditionally follow it. So integral to many homecoming celebrations is the dinner that the Dictionary of Baptists in America uses them to define the events.
"A southern tradition of reunion of former and present members of a local congregation ... with morning worship, followed by 'dinner of the grounds' and 'special music' in the Southern Gospel style."
"The Baptist church always has good cooking," Reagan jokes. "Anytime you get Baptists together, we're going to eat."
The tradition is not purely Baptist, but has gained prominence in that denomination, as well as with Methodists and Pentecostals, because of its proliferation in the South.
Homecomings are a product of the agrarian South and, as such, were often timed to coincide with the slower times of farming. They became particularly popular as many southerners began leaving the farms for higher wages in the factories of the North. Sometimes the event would be combined with visitation of the graves of loved ones, and the cleaning and decoration of the church cemetery.
For Gum Stand, the day had special significance as they celebrated the beginning of their third year in their new home on Veterans Boulevard. The congregation moved from the Kings Branch area two years ago after a nearly decade-long drive to raise money for a new facility.
Members are still working to pay off the debt incurred as they built their new home, with an offering taken each Sunday evening for that purpose. Many also save up the equivalent of a week's pay throughout the year and present it in an offering at homecoming. Sunday's offering for the building fund alone totaled $20,655.
Even with the new facility, church members are already discussing the need for more space as the usual 300-400 person attendance is a big crowd for their sanctuary.
For longtime members like D.L. and Dorotha Cole, that crowding is bittersweet news. They can remember when the congregation was only a few people, brought together in part by Dorotha's parents. While they're glad the church is growing, they're troubled by an increasing number of unknown faces.
"There was a time when I knew everybody in the church," D.L. says. "Now, a lot of those folks have passed away and I don't know some of these newer people."
For the pair, who met at church and have been attending it most of their lives except for a few years when Dorotha's health wouldn't allow it, the church is still home and they say everyone's welcome; especially at homecoming.
"It's good to see everyone back," D.L. said. "I've gotten to see some people I haven't seen in a long time and that means a lot."
* dhodges@themountainpress.com
- [S73] Rawlings Funeral Home, Book 2, 8 Apr 1985.
Martha Emaline Ogle obituary
- [S84] E-Mail, Sandra Cole Huskey [scwslw@aol.com], 24 May 2011.
- [S112] Census, 1940.
Name: Herman Cole
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1940
Event Place: Civil District 5, Sevier, Tennessee, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 14
Marital Status: Single
Race (Original): White
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Stepson
Relationship to Head of Household: Stepson
Birthplace: Tennessee
Birth Year (Estimated): 1926
Last Place of Residence: Rural, Sevier, Tennessee
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
Jones Ogle Head M 41 Tennessee
Emaline W Ogle Wife F 40 Tennessee
Ruby Ogle Daughter F 16 Tennessee
Evelyn Ogle Daughter F 14 Tennessee
Mary E Ogle Daughter F 11 Tennessee
Iva A Ogle Daughter F 10 Tennessee
Floyd Ogle Daughter F 8 Tennessee
David M Cole Stepson M 17 Tennessee
Herman Cole Stepson M 14 Tennessee
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 31 Jan 2012.
Herman Ray King
August 20, 1925 - January 31, 2012
Birthplace: Tennessee
Resided In: Pigeon Forge Tennessee USA
Visitation: February 03, 2012
Service: February 03, 2012
Cemetery: Shady Grove Cemetery
Herman Ray King of Pigeon Forge, born August 20, 1925, passed away January 31, 2012 at Ben Atchley State Veterans Home. He was a United States Army veteran of WW II. Mr King was a member of Gum Stand Baptist Church where he was song leader for many years. He was preceded in death by his parents, mother Emaline King Cole; stepfather, Jonas Ogle; wife; Ruby Esta Ogle King; son, Don King; daughter, Connie Whitted; sister, Violet Stinnett; brother and sister-in-law; Dave and Alma Cole.
He is survived by his:
Sons and daughters–in-law: John and Deloris King, Max and Barbara King, Elmer Rey King; Daughters and sons-in-law: Eula and Bill Case, Patsy and Ollie Trentham; Grandchildren: Rodney and Lisa King, Zetta and Jeff Carmon, Mark King, Michelle and Mark Sanders, Devone and Jim McCarter, Jeffery King, Jimmy and Cathy Trentham, Christy and Brian Elliott, Sharon and Kevin Tarwater, Tonya and Greg Stinnett, Billy Case, Phillip Case, Adam King, Tymri and Eric Bell, Anthony and Kathy Whitted;
Great-grandchildren: Spencer and Hannah King, Lindsey King, Emma Carmon, Hayden Carmon, Chase King, Carissa King, Levi Sanders, Cole Sanders, Reed Sanders, Ashley McCarter, Brook and Nathan Dunn, Shelby Stinnett, Colby Stinnett, Leslie Case, Emily Case, Taylor Case, Riley Case, Kelsie Bell, Alyssa Whitted, Alexis Whitted, Kyle Tarwater, Sabrina Tarwater, Amanda King, Jake Trentham, Meagan Thorn, Dalton Trentham, Laykin Trentham; Great-great-grandchildren: Lanie Melia King and Haleigh Dunn; Special friend: Virginia Morgan; Special thanks to the staff, nurses, doctors and friends at the Ben Atchley State Veterans Home.
The family will receive friends 5-7 PM Friday with funeral service to follow at 7 PM in the West Chapel of Atchley Funeral Home with Rev. Ronnie Reagan officiating. Family and friends will meet 10 AM Saturday in Shady Grove Cemetery for interment. Military honors provided by American Legion Post 104. Arrangements by Atchley Funeral Home, Sevierville. (www.atchleyfuneralhome.com)
- [S84] E-Mail, Sandra Cole Huskey [Scwslw@aol.com], 31 Mar 2017.
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