Fred Lunsford photo courtesy of BaptistPress
Reverend Fred Lunsford was born on March 7th, 1925 in Marble, North Carolina. Until he passed, he lived about two miles from where he grew up. He grew up during the Great Depression and went to school in a little one room schoolhouse called Vengeance Creek School. He went there for two weeks before moving to the school in Marble. Eventually, he moved to Andrews High School where he graduated in 1943. They grew almost everything they had to eat at their family farm. He recalled that it could be rough but that they never went without when it came to food. Fred was drafted into service in 1943 after he graduated high school during World War II. He went to Fort Knox, Kentucky where he completed his basic training. He returned home to marry his sweetheart Gladys Greene and then returned to his deployment overseas three days later where he was gone for eighteen months. Fred participated in the Battle of Normandy and Battle of the Bulge. He came out of the military on November 16th, 1945. God called him to preach shortly after his return. He announced his call when he was 24 in 1949. In 1950 he became the pastor of Little Brasstown Baptist Church and pastored there for fourteen years. He went on to become a missionary for the Truett Baptist Association for twenty-six years. He retired from missionary work in 1990 when he was sixty-five years old which is when he began work preaching revivals. Fred continued his evangelistic work and prayer ministry until he passed on March 1, 2025.
—Taylor Cook
Taylor interviewed Fred Lunsford for her thesis work. Mr. Lunsford talks about his life and of his relationship with Granny Bell and her family.
Mr. Lunsford is famous in our area for his work in churches and missions. I’m so glad Taylor interviewed him! I never knew he had such a strong connection to Brasstown.
Tipper
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The post and interview are so interesting today. I also enjoyed reading about this Pastors life in his obituary. He was a wonderful man of God. How fortunate to have lived to the age of 99 and still able to perform work for the Lord. I have a nephew, who along with his wife and three children, are missionaries in Thailand. They love their work and the people there. I look forward to your future posts like this. Thank you for sharing.
So good that the interviewer was saved and shared. Wish I’d known Mr. Lunsford when I lived up Zeke’s Trail just a few miles down (up?) the road from Vengeance Creek. Most beautiful place I’ve ever lived! Had to move closer to family, but sure miss Marble NC.
It’s a shame he missed the century mark by >thismuch<… 😉
Good morning Tipper and Acorns! I’m going to save this and listen later this evening when my day has calmed to a murmur and I’m tidying up the kitchen before taking my evening walkabout my little farm with the grandkitties, Opie & Lyle. As I was reading & looking at pictures of past posts, I was struck again by the beauty of both Miss Cindy and Granny. Your mamas were stunning beauties both inside and out and that’s being carried on in your girls. I see Miss Cindy more in Katie and Granny in Corie. As far as who they look like lol they look like their mama, who looks like her mama♡ Seeing my tiny great granddaughter trotting around here looking so much like her mom just thrills my heart. I fear she might have a bit of her great “glammy’s” spitfire in her so she’ll need to learn to keep that under control lol I forgot to mention yesterday that I’m a sweet cornbread girl and an unsweetened tea drinker. Both are in contradiction to my southern roots on my daddy’s side.
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things. Romans 10:15
Hey Tipper… thank you for sharing the story about Fred. I just passed it on to our prayer group which many of them live in western North Carolina. There are several of us that live in other states such as Alabama , Tennessee,, Texas, Arkansas , Georgia, Louisiana , South Carolina andI live in Oklahoma. I am sure they will enjoy reading this about Fred. Many of them had the opportunity to meet him.
Thanks
Rhonda Butler
Stillwater OK
Good morning , it’s great to know Matt’s father has received Jesus as his Lord and savior, praise God, God bless him
I discovered that the photo credit underneath his picture is also a hyperlink that opens a fairly long biography. In it is something that we all sort of know but it is fading. And that something is that WWII was formative for a generation of men and women as the Depression was for their parents. And part of that forming was an absolute reliance on God because events and needs were so overwhelming there was – in Lincoln’s words – “nowhere else to turn”. We are yet being blessed by them and their faith and works. Those who are now too young to know and those knowing yet still young will also be blessed in their lives by those who went before. The Lord did have one last thing for Pastor Lunsford to do – “come up hither”.
My Daddy was born July 5, 1922 to sharecropper parents. Like Mr.Lunsford, he was raised during the Depression but I never heard him tell of being hungry because of growing their own food. He went to many different one or two room country schools and finally dropped out when he was in the 8th grade to help his daddy farm. The reason for so many different schools was because of moving so much, I suspect the reason for this was because of not having money to pay the rent went it came due. He was turned down at least twice because of one leg being slightly shorter than the other and walking with a limp but was drafted along about 1944 but never actually went to war because of it ending before he finished all of his training. He married mother not long after getting out of the service. He met her while both were working at Reigel Cotton Mill in Ware Shoals, SC. He never made much money on the jobs he worked but we always managed to have the necessities but not many wants, but there was boundless amounts of love in our family for God and one another. The sentence “we grew almost everything we ate” was very true for us up until I graduated high school, married my wife and moved out on my own. Things had also gotten much better for my paternal grandparents by the time I came along in 1954.
Being remembered for your work in the church is a great honor. Being remembered for your faithfulness, your love, and the lives you impacted is the true legacy.
If I am bragging so be it. Your comment could include a picture of my maternal grandfather Conrad Alexander Kirby- Uncle Con to many 1888-1971. His faith, love of God, church and others is still being talked about today by ones that knew him. One story is of him WALKING 3 miles to church during the winter to start a fire in the potbellied heater so the church would be warm when the others members came for the morning service. I guess he walked and left the wagon for his wife and children. This would have been during the depression years.
Hi Tipper and Acorns. TY so much for this recording. I did a lot of recordings and videos for the Old Butler Community residents. It was a lot of fun.
It nice listening to this gentleman. I’ve listened to a good bit so far and I’ve enjoyed it, I’m sure I’ll love the rest.