Growing Up in Williamsport, Ohio

​Rev. Rogelio Canales and the Boyces
 
My Dad didn’t like Rev. Canales. I think it was because his car was always breaking down and my mother would ask my Dad to take him back to the Circleville Bible College (now Ohio Christian University). One snowy morning his car didn’t work so he walked from Circleville to Williamsport to pastor the church. Though my Dad put on a good front, he was overheard telling someone that Rev. Canales had cared enough about the church to walk ten or eleven miles in the snow to be there. Obviously, he respected him for that. 
 
When Rev. Canales graduated from the Bible College he returned to Laredo, Texas to pastor there. His successors were Revs. Robert and Marjorie Boyce. They were both excellent ministers. Rev. Boyce was a steady and laid-back person who held everything together and his wife was probably the better preacher of the two. They were both self-sacrificing and wonderful Christians. While they were at the church, I learned a lot. I was the Sunday School secretary and ordered all of the material. One day when I was separating Sunday School papers, one of the Bible verses stood out to me. It was, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve”. I felt that God was speaking to me about my future. Because of that, I believed that God was calling me to go to the Circleville Bible College to prepare for some kind of ministry.
 
The fact is, I could never have gone to the Circleville Bible College without the Boyces. They were my mentors. I worked at General Electric the summer after high school and saved my money so I could go. After I applied, Mrs. Boyce took me to matriculate and even took a class there during my Freshman year. Classes were from seven o’clock to noon. I rode there with Juanita Hansen and Mrs. Akers every morning. They worked at General Electric which was next door to the Bible College. They dropped me off then went on to work.
 
I babysat Ricky, Jackie. and Pattie Hooks in the afternoons so I would have money to pay for my ride.
 
And as an aside, Rev. Canales and the Boyces stayed in touch with me as long as they were alive. Sometimes God rewards people here on earth for the good things they do. Years later, after Rev. Boyce died, the man he had worked for in later years passed away and left Mrs. Boyce $250,000. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2021
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck