| |
|
Edna Gene Forester |
Music
aficionado Edna Gene Forester was puzzled when, a couple
of weeks before Christmas, she thought she heard
singing. She turned down the volume of her television in
order to listen more closely and, opening her door, was
thrilled to find some 30 members of Renaissance, "the
Bethel musical experience", caroling on her lawn.
"I was so tickled, that was so good," says Edna Gene,
whose voice, if you've ever made a phone call to Bethel
College, you've likely heard; she works in the
development office of the college, answering the
school's main telephone line, among other duties.
"I love those people in Renaissance," she gushes.
"They're doing great things for the community and
Bethel. And (Bethel professor) Dr. (Alan) Cross has done
a great job in classical music; I'm just so proud of the
music department at Bethel."
Edna Gene has a devotion for music that dates back to
her second grade of primary school and which was
fine-tuned when she was a student of the college over 50
years ago.
She was the third child, much younger than her brothers,
born to Edna and E.W. (Ellis William) Ledbetter. She was
named after her mother and uncle, she relates,
accounting for the spelling of her name. Her father was
a Memphis police officer who walked Beale Street as part
of the uptown beat that comprised much of his 30-year
career, during which time he was shot in the line of
duty.
Nevertheless, she says, quite accurately, "At that time
(urban society) was not so wild."
Edna Gene was walking to school in Memphis one day when
she was stopped by a "very deformed little woman" who
explained she was a piano teacher and asked Edna Gene to
give the card to her mother.
"Mother took me to that lady and I studied with her for
ten years," says Edna Gene. Her 11th year of music
training took place at the DeShazo College of Music,
across from Central High School, where she also
attended. She had previously taken random classes in
theory, harmony and "other applications" at the college.
Edna Gene worked a year and a half before arriving at
Bethel in January 1947, owing to her father's ill
health. Her original plans were to major in English and
become a teacher, however, her education was interrupted
time and again as her father's, and then her mother's,
health worsened.
Edna Gene's college career stabilized after his death in
December and, when she returned to school in January
1948, her life took on a new design when she was
reintroduced to her love of music under the tutelage of
L.J. Turner, who the previous fall had assumed
leadership of Bethel's music department.
"We had a wonderful teacher to come and turn my life
around; it was music that completely changed my life.
Mr. Turner was such a wonderful music teacher; we had a
great chorus and music department," she says. "I changed
my major because I liked him and what he did with the
department."
She also liked what Turner did for her personality:
"People don't believe it, but I used to be shy," says
Edna Gene. "If I make mistakes now, I just blush and go
on. Mr. Turner gave me the confidence to be up in front
of people so that now I can just laugh at blunders."
Her music was also a complement to her husband's
ministry.
"If it wasn't for music I would be completely lost
without my husband," says Edna Gene, whose marriage with
Robert Forester lasted 49 years, until his death seven
and a half years ago.
The couple met on what was the first day at Bethel
College for both of them. She was a 19-year-old city
girl while Robert, at 23, was an "Arkansas boy" who had
spent three years in the military before entering
college. His brother, J.C., was a seminary student at
Bethel, having already completed his undergraduate
degree after which he had met his college sweetheart and
future bride, Willie Mae. The brothers also had two
sisters at the college among nine siblings in their
family.
"We had assigned seats in the dining hall at that time.
It was located in the basement of the old girls' dorm,"
says Edna Gene, laying the groundwork for her life's
most pivotal moment. "They served family style and we
sat at big, long tables with eight or ten students at
each one. Robert was at the head of our table."
Her eyes get misty as she looks into yesteryear and her
voice takes on a dreamy quality as she continues, "He
was tall, dark, and played basketball until he started
preaching. The school was so small that we were all
really in the same organizations... I just knew that was
the best man I've ever seen. I've wished many times I'd
married him that day. He was so good, he was the best
man I've ever known, so kind and good, sweet, genuine
and the best person I've ever known."
Their first date was Homecoming 1947. The couple married
at the end of their sophomore year a year and a half
later on July 10, 1948.
Edna Gene taught school for a time after both she and
Robert graduated in 1950, while he continued his studies
in the seminary at Bethel. Later, she began giving
private piano lessons.
After his graduation from seminary two years later, she
says, "Our pastorates have been far flung."
The couple lived in Alabama seven years, Mississippi
five years, and McKenzie for seven and a half
"wonderful" years before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma where
they remained nine and a half years. They lived in
Louisville, Kentucky five years, after which, Edna Gene
says, "We were ready to start slowing down." They moved
to Arkansas where for two and a half years they served
two small churches in a small, quiet town. Then, in
1988, they moved "home" to McKenzie, having purchased
their home there years earlier in preparation for
retirement.
"McKenzie has been the home of our hearts," says Edna
Gene. "Here is where we met, at Bethel. We thought he
would retire, but there is always a call for preachers
and no shortage of places to go."
Robert began supplying the Bethel Cumberland
Presbyterian Church in McLemoresville two Sundays a
month in 1989 and, later that year, became interim
pastor of the Presbyterian U.S.A. church in McKenzie. He
pastored both churches, with Edna Gene as pianist, for
eight and a half years until his death in 1997. Edna
Gene continued her music ministry at the downtown
church.
She relates that Robert, who was afflicted with leukemia
as well as Parkinson's disease, was so dedicated to his
ministry that he sat on a stool to preach his last three
years, and used a cane to walk after having back
surgery.
Edna Gene's continuing music ministry helps her cope
with her husband's demise: "It's been so wonderful to me
to still have that, that I can still serve with my
music," she says.
She recalls one highlight of their first ministry in
McKenzie, during the 1960s, was being able to live for
the last year and a half of that time in the big,
three-story, 13-room home, located on Stonewall Street
beside the old CP manse, that was recently featured in
McKenzie's Hometown Christmas' Tour of Homes.
"Oh, that door!" she exclaims, recalling how the lights
on the Christmas tree in the foyer shone through the
beveled glass of the door. "It was a wonderful place to
live," she says, and the only place they ever lived that
Robert's big family could fill with ease during family
gatherings.
For five of those years, Edna Gene worked at Bethel,
where she had also worked as a student. While they never
had children of their own, she and Robert formed
relationships so deep with several of the students that
they considered them their "adopted" children. Among
them are boys who became ministers and military
chaplains, some of whom are now retired, as well as
three "daughters", all of whom remain special to Edna
Gene. Among them, locally, are Carla and Walter Waddle.
Those, too, were the years when Willie Mae and J.C.'s
children - Steve, Byron, David, and Mark - were growing
up, a cherished time for Edna Gene.
"I couldn't ask for sons that would be any better to
me," she says of her nephews. They have since added
"four precious children" to the family.
And, she continues, she also has nieces and nephews on
the Ledbetter side, including great- and great-great
nieces and nephews that unfortunately live too far away
to see often, as well as other Forester nieces and
nephews who live further away. "They are dear to me,
too," she says.
Shortly after Robert died, Edna Gene was asked to work
at Bethel on a volunteer basis, 15 hours a week, as a
relief for another secretary.
"I hadn't worked since we came back to McKenzie in
1988," she says. After two weeks, she was put on the
payroll and, over time, her duties expanded until she
was employed in a fulltime capacity.
"I'm in the same suite now as I was in the '60s," she
smiles, "except it's expanded now; I'm in (what was) the
hallway... I feel like I went right back home."
In addition to answering the telephone, Edna Gene writes
the alumni news, an activity that helps her keep up with
people she's come to know over many years. She also mans
the registration desk at Homecoming each year, another
activity that keeps her in touch with others.
"I'd rather be at Bethel than anywhere in the world to
work," she says. "I love to do that - it's fun. I really
enjoy keeping up with those alums."
She also enjoys playing the piano for daily worship
services for two weeks each summer during the
theological seminary's program of alternate studies held
at Bethel. "I've done that for ten years and boy, do I
love every second of it," she says.
Locally, Edna Gene is a member of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church while serving Presbyterian U.S.A.
for the past 16 years as pianist, a juxtaposition that
gives her a double edge of friendship between the two
churches. She teaches Sunday School and Bible classes as
well as playing the piano at the Presbyterian Church and
attends the CP Church when she can for revivals and
special events.
"I'm the most blessed person I know," she says. "In all
the churches (in each state they served) I have close
friends, close contacts. I heard from somebody in each
church this Christmas."
She returned to her and Robert's first pastorate in
Alsburg, Alabama for homecoming this year only to find
their organist was out.
"I got to play and it was just like being right back in
the groove," she says, smiling.
She's also had the chance to return to Tulsa once since
Robert died, a trip she made with a friend she's had
since the seventh grade. She remains close with another
friend since the fourth grade.
"It's wonderful to have a few friends left there (in
Memphis,)" she says.
Edna Gene was able to attend her 50th high school
reunion in 1995: "That was so much fun; there were 200
of us there of 498 originally."
And, in 2000, she attended the 50th anniversary of her
graduation from Bethel College.
"My college roommate and best friend from college days
was there; we had a mighty fine reunion," she smiles.
Another blessing in Edna Gene's life are her happy
little dogs, Prissy, an almost-14-year-old Pomeranian
she's had since she was five weeks old, and six-year-old
"mutt" Phoebe she's had for five years.
"They're my constant companions," she says, glowing.
"They're the sweetest things in the world. When I come
home, they're standing there wagging their tails. They
get a lot of the attention I used to give my husband; we
petted each other all those years since we didn't have
children."
She enjoys being a member and secretary of the McKenzie
Garden Club, a pursuit she's explored since 1989. And
she enjoys keeping in touch with friends to the extent
that some accuse her of single-handedly supporting the
postal service.
"I do correspond with many, many friends," she says.
These days, some of her correspondence takes place by
email via a computer that was given her by friends,
another blessing among many derived from friendships
made over the years.
"I'm so blessed," she says. "I'm so well off with
friends and family and my church and my good job at
Bethel - I'm just the most blessed person I know." |
|
