We just recently finished with vacation bible school at our church, and I couldn’t help but think back to my childhood experiences with vacation bible school.

Lilian Melton, also a “Reader’s Write” author came to get us every summer and we attended the First Church of the Nazarene in town near Memorial Hill Cemetery for bible school.

It was pretty much the same as the bible school we have at our church, we had our lessons, memorized bible verses, they sometimes would have puppets, crafts and we had Kool Aid and cookies. We had classes in the basement, and it would be nice and cool with the concrete cinder blocks and I remember that even in some places it would be damp with water. A cool refresher in summer time.

I ask two of my sisters what they remembered about bible school and they both said, “I remember we got Kool Aid and cookies.” I can remember learning my verse one year and I got up to say it on commencement and they said wait and we will get you the microphone.

Once they placed the microphone in front of me I went completely blank! Ms. Melton had to coach me to say the entire verse after that. We would paint tiny ceramic statues and our mother would be so proud to display them.

You can imagine the shock I felt when I passed the other day and I see the large hill that we used to roll over after bible school was being filled in with dirt. I just smiled as I passed by as those memories of my years of attending bible school came flooding back and I could still feel dizzy from rolling over that hill.

It would be dusk when bible school was over and if we had a few minutes before it was time to load up to leave we would get at the top of that big hill and roll our bodies over until the rolling stopped at the bottom. Dizzy then and barely able to stand, we would laugh and head to the top to do it over again.

These are good memories of many years spent there for VBS, bittersweet to see the hill being flattened as I am sure it is with good intentions, as time marches on…

Tammy Waid McClellan