Missing Pieces I

I know what subject I want to approach. But from what angle? From the beginning? I may have time and energy to actually go there. What if I start and don't finish? That's o.k. Carol; it's never finished anyway.

I'll fill in some blanks later, perhaps.

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August, 2006

I was absorbed with GreasespotCafe, the ex/anti-Way online forum. I spent hours and hours there each day. Reading, posting, chatting. When I wasn't online, I'd think about the people there; I prayed for them. I connected via phone with folks who reached out to me; some who had been good friends 20 years ago. I was deeply grateful and felt indebted to the friendships and the forum.

In August, 2006, 10 months after I'd left The Way, I attended Christian Family Fellowship's Family Reunion. I had some face to face reunions there. Hillary.  Deb. Jim. Kevin and Deb. Wayne, though I had seen Wayne the previous December and spoken with him a few times on the phone.

Deb asked where I was in my Way thinking and when I'd left the org. She was sipping coffee. She and I had been in the Way Corps together; I hadn't seen her since around 1983.

"October, 2005," I answered.

Deb gasped and her coffee came spewing out. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed. We laughed.

I got to spend time with Hillary.  We had been roommates in the Way Corps. After our hugs and greetings and cordial exchange I stated, "So I'm a regular at GreasespotCafe." Our eyes met. She knew I knew. She knew I'd read all the stuff. I had compassion for her.

"I can't imagine what you've been through," I stated.

Her eyes filled with tears. "If not for the Word Doctor taught me, my head would have imploded."

My husband was sitting with me. We both picked up on her inflection and emphasis on the  "the Word." It was like she was stating that in spite of all Doctor's frailties, he taught her the very thing that kept her sane.

I had so many questions, but refrained. I didn't want to cause pain and didn't think it my place to ask.

She expounded a bit more about how she and her family had left; how Craig Martindale had kicked them off staff. Around 2000 Craig took the fall for The Way; at least in Way followers' eyes he was the guilty party. Other leaders stayed on, though they too were guilty of similar as Craig.

I had read on GSC that the Wierwille children were not allowed on their home place, The Way Headquarters, even after Craig was forced to resign. Even after Rosalie Rivenbark had taken his place as The Way International President and when the "mark and avoid" practice was supposedly dropped, when The Way supposedly became warmer and kinder. I wondered if it was really true, that the (non-Way) Wierwille family wasn't allowed to visit their mother or their home place.  It seemed such a cruel mandate; surely Rosalie had lifted it. So I asked Hillary.

"It's true," she said. "Dotsy would have to come off grounds to visit the family. It was horrible. Plus they weren't caring for her properly during her dementia. The kids did finally get her in the nursing home for her last days of life."

Mrs. Wierwille (Dotsy) was The Way  founder's wife.  I had last seen her in 2000.  She had come to NC to visit Dr. Rawlins.  Doc Rawlins was also elderly, a long time Way believer, honorary Corps, and a much respected obstetrician in Way world and in the secular world.  I loved Doc Rawlins.  She was so funny.  She was promoting breast feeding in the 50's and 60's and had started the Titty Committee, a breast feeding support group, revolutionary for the 50's/ 60's era.  At that time she had a cat named Fritz so I think he became Fritz, the Kitty, of the Titty Committee, or something like that.  Humor was healing quality and influence of Doc Rawlin's life.

I had read Mrs. Wierwille's biography "Born Again to Serve" to my children sometime around 1996.  We each had written Mrs. Weirwille thanking her for the book.  As her manner was she wrote each of us back;  I still have the letters.  In the letter to my daughter she shared that she was working on the second book.  "Born Again to Serve" covered Doctor's life up until around 1961, when she and Doctor moved onto Dr. Wierwille's childhood home place, the headquarters home for The Way Ministry, to give their lives full time to move the new dynamic church.

I wanted my then 12-year old daughter to meet this 85-year old living legend, not to mention spend some time with Doc Rawlins, though we got to see her pretty regularly.   I couldn't pass the opportunity for this one-on-one time with the Mrs., Doc Rawlins, my daughter and I.  I took our copy of  "Born Again to Serve" so Mrs. Wierwille could autograph it.

We sat around Doc Rawlins kitchen pleasantly conversing and listening. I also discussed my illnesses and health with Mrs.Wierwille.  She had prayed for me a few times over the years and given me direction as far as my health. If I had only obeyed what she said, I probably wouldn't have ended up in the condition I had landed in.

I had only mentioned to a few people that Mrs. Wierwille had written my daughter that she was writing a sequel to the first book. In that letter Mrs. Wierwille stated that my daughter would be around 12 when the next book would be finished.  My daughter was now 12, but I know how projects go.  They always take longer than expected. Information about the 2nd book had not been announced in The Ministry, at least that I heard, in any fellowships or leader's meetings or Sunday Night Services.

Sitting around the kitchen bar, I asked Mrs. Wierwille how the 2nd book was coming along mentioning to her that she had written my daughter about it.

"It's a lot of work.  I'm keeping the history department busy, busy collecting information and photos and documents.  Another few years should have it finished," she responded, sounding rather tired but hopeful.

We had a memorable visit.  I tried to impress upon my daughter the significance of Mrs. Wierwille's life.  She was Doctor's wife.  She was the woman behind that great man of God who had brought the accuracy of God's Word to our day and time, the first century church in the 20th.  For us to have the privelege of time alone with her was an incredible moment in our lives, historical,  monumental.  Of course, my 12-year old daughter didn't get it.  But later, when she was older, she would.

Hillary continued, "One of the best things for Dotsy was getting her away from HQ. She missed serving others; she wasn't allowed to do much around HQ once her health went downhill. She loved the nursing home. The family could visit whenever we wanted. At the nursing home, Dotsy was able to set a table outside her room and serve people cookies."

Hillary's expression was one of gratitude and warmth as she spoke fondly of Dotsy, who had passed away 11 months previously in September 2005.

She continued, "Dotsy's dementia got pretty bad. Sometimes she wouldn't know who her children were, but she could always quote scripture. It was her life and her comfort."

I wondered about the sequel to "Born Again to Serve."  I had wondered if digging up all that history and reliving the years of Doctor's philandering contributed to his wife's dementia. I had become well acquainted with the physical torment that emotions can havoc on the mind and body. Could it have done the same to Mrs. Wierwille?

I didn't ask Hillary about the book.

The 2nd book never got published, and I've never heard anyone mention it, other than Mrs. Wierwille in that handwritten letter to my daughter, and in her own voice while sitting around that kitchen bar in a small city in North Carolina.
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Missing Pieces I
Missing Pieces II: Grotto Journaling
Missing Pieces III: We All Stand Together (Part 1)
Missing Pieces III: We All Stand Together (Part 2)

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