Church on the Hill
As I was growing up most all of my family were Church Folks, both of my Papaw’s were preachers, my  Mamaw’s were really good Godly women, if they told you something you had better believe it.  When I was very young a Preacher came to visit our little Church on the Hill,  (it was called this because it was up on top of the hill above the Cumberland Radio Station) This ole Country Preacher at the time was only about 25 years old or so. I am saying that because he was about the same age as my dad.  He was from Pennington Gap Va.  He was one of the greatest men I have ever known.  He became the pastor of our little Church and could him and several of the members of that church play music and sing. His name was Claude D. Ely. I have never felt about any other church member other than my relatives the way I felt about that man.
In August of 1954 in the Letcher County Courthouse they recorded some of the great songs, that Claude had written. He wrote a lot of good songs and did a good job of singing them, my dad played the mandolin and they sang a lot together. Here is a link where Claude’s great-nephew is writing a book about his live, and it has pictures of Claude and a lot of my family. The picture on the top is Claude with the guitar, and my dad with the mandolin.  When you open the link the picture on the right where two men are standing in the creek getting ready to baptize, one of the older men is my Papaw Sweet.  A lot of memories. Also a few of the songs Claude wrote and recorded are included in this link.  I hope you enjoy it.