95 year-old Lunsford has many stories to tell

    Marble – Fred Lunsford never expected to make it to 95 years old. At just past midnight Saturday morning, he reached the milestone, then celebrated with family and friends Saturday afternoon.
    He first didn’t think he’d make it in March 1944, when he told his fiancee, Gladys Green, that he was going to be shipped overseas to fight in World War II for the U.S. Army and could die. She cried, then married him the next day, on March 17 in Blairsville, Ga.
    In 2014, Gladys passed away. Then four years ago, he believed he would never see another presidential
election.
    The next time came about two years ago, when he went through a sick spell. After being discharged from the hospital, he went to his prayer garden and asked the Lord to take him. God replied, “Not yet.”
    Lunsford waited three weeks for a reason why the Lord wasn’t ready for him, until he finally learned that He wanted him to serve 70 years in the mission field and also wanted others to celebrate the milestone with him.
    “I am here because of one thing – the Lord extended my days to get people to pray for a spiritual awakening for our country,” Lunsford said.
    The fellowship hall at Vengeance Creek Baptist Church was filled family, friends and others whose lives he touched over the years. His great nephew’s wife, Crystal White, helped organize the party and decorated the room. Along the wall, she placed a timeline showing important moments in Lunsford’s life, as well as important historical moments he lived though – like the “Star-Spangled Banner” being adopted as the national anthem in 1931.
    “Not a lot of people make it to 95 years, and not a lot of people have the stories to tell that he has,” White said.
    He grew up during the Great Depression in Vengeance Creek. Each community back then had a church, a blacksmith shop and, in some cases, a general store.
    While some other southern Appalachian churches had bells to spread the news to the community through the number of strikes, his church had a railroad iron tied up to a tree. Someone would take a hammer and strike the iron if the community’s help was needed for something or if there was important news to spread.
    “And you could hear it ring all through the community,” Lunsford said.
    There was also a school in Vengeance Creek that closed just when Lunsford was starting school. He ended up going to school in Marble.
    He remembers everyone in the community helping other. He recalled that everyone in the community raised cane, then took part in harvesting it and making syrup from it at the cane mill. He also said if someone’s barn burned down, everyone would help rebuild it – and if a cow went dry, neighbors would provide milk for the family.
    “That’s the way it worked,” Lunsford said. “That’s the way it was growing up.”
    He graduated from high school in April 1943. He was in the last class that graduated at the conclusion of 11th grade and went to school for less than nine months each year.
    In June, Lunsford got a notice from the draft board for examination. He was working at a sawmill in Graham County and his boss told him since they were shipping to Virginia to build ships, he was already in a defense job and could get a deferment.
    Lunsford said he would fulfill his duty for his country and went to basic training in Fort Knox, Ky.,on April 13, 1943. On April 6, 1944, Lunsford sailed out of New York Harbor to Europe. He was involved in the Normandy invasion and Battle of the Bulge.
    “The Lord brought me through,” Lunsford said. “I’m convinced of that.”
    Once he returned home on Sept. 2, 1945, he and Gladys had nothing – in fact, everyone was poor. They prayed, and in January, Lunsford found a job working at L.M. Shields Store in Murphy for $30 a week. He soon learned he could go to school on the G.I. Bill, learned the plumbing trade and took over a business after three years of training.
    However, in 1949, he realized he had a problem. While overseas, he told the Lord that he would do anything for Him if he survived. In April, he decided to answer the Lord’s wishes for him to be a preacher.
    Little Brasstown Baptist Church asked him to be their pastor, and he agreed. He eventually became a missionary with the Truett Baptist Association, which he helped start.
    Over the years, he preached at or served as pastor or interim pastor at several local churches. A highlight of his missionary work came in 1988, when he was selected as the director of missions of the year for the eastern United States.
    “It was a highlight to me because I couldn’t take credit for it myself,” he said. “All I did was give the people some structure … they done all the work.”
    Lunsford said it showed what the mountain people of Cherokee County were capable of doing.
    He was named a member of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by Gov. Pat McCrory in 2015 and was presented the N.C. Baptist Heritage Award by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina in 2018. Lunsford has written six books – and is already working on his seventh.