Criswell Redux, His trombone and John Phillip Sousa

 This is a followup on Criswell and the Hagiography of his suck up, patronizing disciple O S Hawkins.  Come back to this as I am posting the rough draft but plan to refine and do some add ons and perspective

    I have read the bio since my first take. Got the book on Friday and pretty much devoured it over the weekend. History will record Criswell as a demagogue bastard Baptist in the big scheme of things, but Hawkins hagiography embellishes the humanity of the rascal and some of those tales are charming.

    Its like one of my Dad's Stories of My Grandmother's oldest brother Bill Helton born in the 1890s outside Pigeon Forge Tennessee where he lived all his life, the oldest of nine brother and another sister. He Told my Dad that in the thirties a visiting preacher came through the hollers for a ten day revival and stayed with a family. The wife was devout but the husband a well known moonshiner. The preacher spent one day making shine with the husband. The preacher left the steal early for the services and the shiner on the way home stopped by the open window church during mid service. He later told Uncle Bill " knowing what that rascal had been up to all day making shine with me, he was preaching in such a way, it brought tears to my eyes."

      Such was the gift of W A Criswell. I was charmed by the story last night of his mother taking him from Tex Line Texas over to Amarillo in the Panhandle because the accreditation of the public school in  TEXLINE was in Question where as Amarillo High had strong credibility.

      Criswell as incoming Junior soon was first chair in the trombone section of the High School and city wide civic band. John Phillips Sousa himself came to town circa 1915 and directed the band in Stars and Stripes forever which evoked a five minute standing ovation.

    It was just a few months before that George W. Truett, likely the greatest Baptist of the first half of the 20th Century visited the FBC of Amarillo one Sunday morning and shook hands with a sixteen year old Criswell and said God Bless You.

    I was baptized in Truett Memorial BC in Hayesville NC, birthplace of Truett where he lived his first 20 years before the family went to Texas So I have skin, at least water, in the game.

    In Baptist circles that was as big as the famous handshake of JFK and Bill Clinton when Clinton was 17

     More later