collegeside Courageous Flyer (1)

Registration is now open. Please register your children online by June 10th so we know how many supplies and t-shirts to purchase. You can register online at www.vacationbibleschool.com/collegesidecoc. There is also a supple registry on the website. If you are able to donate any of the needed supplies, please drop them off in the buckets located outside the CLC.

“A passionate giver” is how Mona Ethridge Copeland describes her dad, Maurice Ethridge.

From his preaching and working with congregations in Florida and Texas through his teaching at Pepperdine to his tenure at Tennessee Tech, Maurice has given of himself to his world. Working in Nigeria through a Lipscomb outreach was possibly his last time to give globally, but he still gives in a big way by continuing to be his family’s rock, according to Mona.

If Maurice is the family’s rock, Nola is the embodiment of a Bible passage dear to the family: I Corinthians 13. “Mom continues to show us the meaning of enduring love,” says Mona.

Maurice and Nola met in Tampa, Florida, where Maurice was leading singing at a tiny church. The couple married in 1956 and worked with various congregations in Florida and Texas while Maurice completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from North Texas University, his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin, and his degree in Bible from Florida Christian College.

The couple adopted Becky while Maurice was teaching high school in South Hill, Virginia. They then moved to Dallas, where Maurice taught at Preston Road School of Preaching. While he was preaching in Florence, Texas, they adopted Mona and Monty. Dean became part of the family in Colorado when Maurice was preaching at Glenwood Springs.

Next came two years of teaching at Pepperdine when the campus was still in downtown Los Angeles. It was while they were at Pepperdine and while Nola was working on campus that they came to know the Morales family from Mexico. Elva Morales and son Edgar have been close to the Ethridge family through citizenship struggles and moves to new towns and raising children since that time.

After one more move to Texas, the family came to Cookeville in 1972. Maurice preached at Jamestown and Cherry Creek congregations, and he taught at Tennessee Tech until he retired 25 years later to enjoy his “family and be a grandfather.” A bumper sticker on his car reads, “If I had known grandchildren would be so much fun, I would have had them first!”

Nola and Maurice have nine grandchildren. Becky, who is a nurse, has three boys. Mona has three girls and one boy. Dean, who lives in Harriman, has one boy and one girl. Dean’s sweetest memories of his dad are of his coaching Little League and watching all of Dean’s sports games. Dean also treasures the times he played golf with his dad and says he is trying to raise his children “the way Dad raised his.”

Monty, who moved back to town and opened Mauricio’s restaurant four years ago, speaks of good memories of Collegeside and growing up here. He particularly remembers Teenside retreats at Fall Creek Falls, the skating trips, and good Bible School teachers like Lorraine Maddux.

Nola and Maurice rarely get out of the house now because of Maurice’s health, but she says that “God has blessed us here with friends, caring elders, and remarkable people like Kelly and Patty Campbell.”

Nola speaks lovingly of what Collegeside has meant to her family through the years, including memories of James Murphy with candy in his pockets, Lee and Pat Long inviting families into their home, and preachers from Harvey Arnold to Kelly Campbell.

Another of Nola’s dearest blessings in the church is hearing from friends from all the places they have lived and worked.

“As he was beginning to get sick, Dad once told me that he was not afraid, that he was ready,” remembers daughter Mona. “He knew that God would take care of him even in trying times. He always said that if a burden is too heavy, we should give it to God. We should just tell God that we can’t carry the burden by ourselves.

“Dad continues to show us the way to live. He is our rock.”

William “Glen” Stillinger celebrated his 89th year by booking his first cruise. He sailed with all four of his daughters to Key West, Belize, Cozumel and other exotic locations in the Caribbean.

What will he do this year when he turns 90 years old on July 25?

Glen and his wife, Earline, moved to Cookeville from Ohio to be near their daughter and son-in-law, Genny and Morris Mabry, in 1981. Glen and Earline raised their daughters in Euclid, Ohio, and he was an elder at the Forest Hills Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio, for many years. But when the girls moved to Colorado, Kentucky, Florida and Tennessee, the couple decided to move, too.

Glen retired after 43 years at G.E., where he was a machinist helping to make light bulbs. He took an early retirement to take care of Earline, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He took care of her for 30 years as the disease got progressively worse, and the doctors said that the only reason she lived so long was the loving care he gave her. She died at home in 1996.

Glen now has 6 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.

Although Glen often visits his daughters, you may mail birthday cards to him at his Cookeville address, 1434 Gibbons Road, Algood, TN 38506.

Mama Lil knows how to “bloom where she’s planted,” says Pam Toline of her grandmother, Lillian Morehead.

And bloom is what Lillian Morehead has done all her life. She fills her life with art and music as she draws and paints and keeps up her piano playing. Sharing space with her paintings and drawings in her apartment at Morningside are exquisite examples of Scherenschnitte, small silhouettes she has learned to create with tiny scissors.

She also enthusiastically participates in Bridge and keeps up a long-time correspondence with a group of friends she has had for 50 years.

“I believe in keeping my hands and my mind busy,” she says.

Lillian grew up as one of the middle of six children in Obion County, Tennessee, where her father was an elder in the church. In 1947 she and her husband, Dr. M. R. Morehead, a dentist, moved to Cookeville with their three children, Nancy, Cindy, and Reece.

The family decided to be a part of the congregation moving to the brand new church building near the Tennessee Tech campus. Lillian and her family have been active at Collegeside ever since its beginning.

Lillian said that her husband loved to go duck hunting. She did not want to hunt ducks, so she decided to join one of Ray Kinslow’s trips to the Holy Land. She has interesting photos and good memories of the tour, and she never regretted missing the duck hunting trips.

When Dr. Morehead died in 1994, the couple had celebrated 62 years of marriage. They have had three children, five grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren.

When her children were growing up, another way she kept her hands and mind busy was by being a Girl Scout leader. She won the Girl Scout Leadership award twice, was Director of the annual Middle Tennessee area campout, and has fond memories of attending the Girl Scout Roundup in Vermont.

“I taught the girls how to keep their tents dry,” she explains, and proudly describes the time a storm blew down all the tents at a large campout except the ones her scouts had pitched.

She also volunteered for years with the Red Cross Bloodmobile and played a big part in getting the service to come to town.

She began painting when she observed her daughter’s developing artistic talent. “I thought Cindy must have got it from somewhere, so I tried it!” she claims. And she has been painting and drawing ever since.

Lillian shared her artistic skills with Collegeside by decorating the hall bulletin boards and by teaching Bible classes for little ones. Some members may remember the scenes she painted on the original fire screens at the UCSC.

Be sure to wish her Happy Birthday! on August 13. She will be celebrating 90 years of busy hands and mind!

Bill O’Neal’s 42 years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began when a friend of his dad’s asked, “Why don’t you quit running all over the country with your job and come down here and help me build Center Hill Dam?”

“So I did,” remembers Bill. Thus began a career as resource manager for Corps of Engineers dams, including Center Hill, Cordell Hull, Dale Hollow, and Wolf Creek. Bill still talks about working seven days a week to get Center Hill Dam completed by 1948. He was in charge of all government-furnished materials for the construction, and he daily climbed to the top and inspected the 28 concrete monoliths as they grew 5 or 6 feet a day.

His former job with Goodrich Rubber Company had required too much travel, but it did bring him to Cookeville. And Cookeville was where he met Aline, his wife for 49 years until her death in 1989.

Bill remembers first seeing Aline at the old Gulf filling station on the square. The two were married just one month before he was drafted for service in the Pacific in WWII. While Bill was in Manila, Aline managed her stockyard in Algood.

Bill and Aline were involved in both the old Broad Street Church of Christ and the beginning of Collegeside when it was established to be close to the students at TTU. He served many years as head of Building and Grounds for the church property. Bill has many pleasant memories of Collegeside, including the weddings of his two daughters, Betty and Peggy. He now has five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Bill’s grandfather was a doctor in Giles County, where Bill grew up with his three brothers and one sister. The family also spent some time in St. Petersburg, Florida, while his father worked as a contractor during the Depression years.

Bill served as Commander of the National Guard Unit in the Cookeville area and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. The treasured family photos covering walls and shelves of his den share space with the many citations, both military and civilian, that have been awarded to Bill O’Neal for a lifetime of service.

His sister, Marjorie Miller, remembers hearing that Bill was an officer who could call you in and chew you out royally and never use a word of profanity. When Marjorie’s husband, who was Adjutant General of Oregon at the time, died suddenly, Bill was there for her. She remembers another tribute paid to Bill during that time: When the first lady of Oregon met Bill, she said that at last she had met a real Southern Gentleman.

When asked what advice he would give young people, Bill said, “Go to church and behave yourself!”

Be sure to wish him a happy birthday on June 5. He will be 90 years old!