Appendix B: Jim Gambill

Uncle Jim, The Preacher

  When I was a youngster there was an often talked about presence,( not a physical reality because I never saw him until I was a young teenager), of an Uncle Jim who had succeeded in becoming a minister and removing himself to, what was to us at that time a far-off place,-- Ohio.
  He was the second son of John Aaron and Martha Gambill, and they were very proud of their preacher son. His accomplishments in such a noble profession deserve recognition. And in that spirit we make them a part of this family record by copying a newspaper article included in the Xenia Daily Gazette, May 12, 1958, at the time of his retirement.

The headline reads:

Rev. Mr. Gambill to End Ministry Here on June 1

  Rev. James M. Gambill, who spent his early manhood as a shepherd of souls in the Appalachian Mountain wilds of his native North Carolina, will preach his final sermon June 1 as pastor of Xenia Trinity Methodist Church and terminate 44 colorful years in the ministry.
   The next day he and Mrs. Gambill will go to the Ohio Methodist Conference at Lakeside, Ohio, where his resignation will be presented formally.
   At the conclusion of the Conference June 8, they will return to Xenia to pack their personal property and will leave June 14 for Dunkirk, Ohio, where they bought a home on two acres and where they expect to spend many happy, peaceful years in pleasant retrospect.
 A benign , graying man in his late 60's, Rev. Mr. Gambill has occupied the Xenia pulpit since Feb. 17, 1952 and is the 29th pastor of Trinity Methodist in its long history now nearing the century mark.
In his early days his charges were sparsely scattered over backwoods areas, reached by wagon trail or over almost impassable mountainous roads. It was not unusual for him to jog along on horseback say 23 miles and then preach as often as three times in a single day.
   These were hard, but rewarding years. His eyes grow a little misty today as he recalls the religious fervor of the mountain folk. Many of them had little of the world's blessings to share, but their hearts and their doors always were open to a man of God
   Most of them had small farms, sometimes good and sometimes impoverished soil. They raised some livestock for home consumption but added to the fare with game and fowl from surrounding hills, with fruits and berries from the wildlands, supplemented with plenty of cornbread , hot biscuits, native honey and buttermilk.
Rev. Mr. Gambill remembers one household where he was persuaded to sit down to a table that held only cornbread, honey and buttermilk. "Whatever was lacking in food was made up for in sincerity, hospitality" he said.

  The minister becomes a little sad when he hears present day radio and television music called "hill-bill.y" " If they're referring to the music of the mountain folk living in the Great Smokies or the Cumberland ranges that isn't so. Their music is deep, spiritual, meaningful" he said.
   The hymns Rev. Mr. Gambill remembers particularly well were " I'll Lay Down the Bible and Go Home," "That Will be Glory to Me" and countless others with themes of veneration for mothers. Ernie Ford offers the truest approach to mountain hymnals, he believes.
   The backwoods use of those old spirituals is all the more remarkable, he said, because in his day one seldom saw a songbook in the area. The music seemed to be handed down by word of mouth, sometimes preserved on shabby scraps of paper.
   One of Rev. Mr. Gambill's early charges was in Monroe County, Tenn, which Sen. Estes Kefauver calls "home." The Smoky Mountain congregation had 125 families and at one time the minister received 25 young people into the church at a single service. He mused happily on the fact that out of all those families two boys went on to college, one to become a judge and the other, county prosecutor.
   Rev. Mr. Gambill was born in Lansing, N. C. where his family had lived as long as anyone could remember. Although once large land-holders, they lost virtually everything in the Civil War.
  He was the son of John and Martha Denny Gambiill and was born on the family farm, went to elementary and high school at Lansing. In later years he attended now defunct Webster College at Atlanta, Ga and graduated at Tennessee Wesleyan College.
  

He entered the ministry at 22, his first charge being a little church at Laurel Branch, N. C, now called by the more poetic name of Roaring Gap, situated on the picturesque Skyline Drive of tourist fame. It was to that little country parsonage that he took his bride, Pearl Marie Blevins, member of a Washington County Va family, whom he first met one night while preaching at Konnerock, Va. He served three churches at the time.   Responsibilities of pastoral duties were heavy those days, but Rev. Mr. Gambill also found time to serve as principal of the first high school in Lansing, N.C. He recalls there were 22 students who rode horseback to school. Today 14 buses are required to carry boys and girls there to classes. At that time, of course, the stipend a pastor received was pitifully small, but Rev. Mr. Gambill managed to live and complete four years of college work on a salary ranging from $300 to $400 a year.   The retiring minister came to the Ohio Conference in 1926 from the Blue Ridge Atlantic and Holston Annual Conference of the Methodist Church. Before assuming the Xenia pastorate he served churches at Dunkirk, Hanover, Sardinia, Mt. Victory , Alexander, and Mt. Perry.

Rev. James M. Gambill beginning 44 years of ministry

His retirement was interrupted when he was called back for a period to be a healer of troubled parishes.
Old preachers never retire, they just keep on doing what God called them to do!