Special to The Courier

Four generations of mountain turkey hunters: On porch, from left, are author, author’s great uncle Charle Cloer and author’s father Carl T. Cloer Sr. In front is author’s son, Carl T. Cloer III.

A farewell hunt

Editor’s Note: This is the second half of a two-part reflection on five generations of turkey hunting by Courier contributor Dr. Thomas Cloer Jr.

Sounds of an old gun

ou’ll have to carry my gun and cushion. I couldn’t pull a greasy string out of a cat’s rear,” Dad complained as I met him for the last hunt.

“Of course I’ll carry your gun and cushion. I’ll carry you if I have to,” I said with a bravado that served to obscure my fears. I knew Dad had just gone back to see the doctor.

The author’s father, Carl T. Cloer Sr., with a huge gobbler bagged just prior to his death.

“What did the doctor say about the kidney?” I queried.

“He said it was malignant son, and I have to go back for them to keep checking to see if it spread.”

“They probably got it all,” I said. “You will likely outlive me.”

The morning looked threatening as we left in our four-wheel-drive vehicle, three hours before daybreak. Dad never liked to go into the woods at first gobbling time. He wanted to first sit in the vehicle and sip coffee, and then be in place and be ready long before the first little wren awakened.

“It looks like it might rain Dad. You got your raincoat?” I asked.

“I got it, Tom. This cool air goes through me like a dose of salts through a widow woman,” he said. “I can’t take anything, old hunting buddy. You would get more help bagging a gobbler on these old rough ridges today from a little child hunting companion than from me.”

Dr. Tom Cloer with a huge mountain bird.

By Dr. Thomas Cloer, Jr., Special to The Courier

Editor’s Note: This is the first half of a two-part reflection on five generations of turkey hunting by Courier contributor Dr. Thomas Cloer Jr.

My grandson, Dylan Cloer, came running toward me at our turkey hunting camp, shouting, “Grandpa! Grandpa! I got him; I got a gobbler!”

“Fantastic, Dylan! The torch has been passed!”

Author’s grandsons, Dylan and Ryan Cloer, with Dylan’s first wild turkey.

I can remember when my son — and Dylan’s dad — Tom Cloer III did it as well. He had heard the old gobbler in the Jocassee Gorges and had hidden on a steep bluff overlooking the river. He bagged that turkey with the same Model 12 Winchester that both my dad and I used to bag our first wild turkeys. The torch passes.

I can remember my first successful turkey hunt with my dad as if it were yesterday. I can remember walking into our mountain hunt camp in the 1950s and seeing the magnificent bird hanging in a blooming dogwood tree. My Dad had called it up close and bagged it in the middle

Although it is now known as Grace Christian Fellowship and has moved to 377 Deer Creek Road in Dacusville, the former Dacusville Church of God of Prophecy has the same group of believers and goal as it always has — “growth in the kingdom of God,” according to pastor Jeff Hunt, pictured at above.

New name, new location, same church

By Ben Robinson, Courier Staff

After many years of serving the Dacusville community from a small building on Hunts Bridge Road, the group of believers once known as the Dacusville Church of God of Prophecy has a fresh start in the community.

The church has a new name, though it never forsakes the old name.

Officially the name is Grace Christian Fellowship dba Dacusville Church of God if Prophecy. The

Grace Christian Fellowship

new name comes from when the church membership moved into the building formerly used by Grace Presbyterian at 377 Deer Creek Road four years ago.

The building was originally used by a group from Jones Hill Church of God, which eventually outgrew the location and moved into the facilities now known as LIFEchurch on Thomas Mill Road. The Presbyterians tried, but were unable to establish the Dacusville location and gave up the location on Deer Creek Road.

Dacusville Church of God of Prophecy happened to be looking for a new location at the time. Started in 1951, the church had vigorously served the Dacusville community from its small facility on Hunts Bridge Road. Pastor Jeff Hunt, who had already served as the church’s pastor for four years, led the church as it moved into its new facility.

Hunt has served as a pastor for the church since before it moved four years ago. Later, the former Church of God of Prophecy building was rented to Hunt’s friend Cleve Holloway, who started New Works Christian Fellowship at the Hunts Bridge Road location.

Hunt has been in the ministry for 40 years. He started his ministry by serving as a pastor for nine years.

“But the lord got a hold of us to go onto the mission fields,” Hunt said.

He and his wife went to western Canada to serve as evangelists for four years, “then we were asked to pastor a church in Winnipeg, Manitoba,” Hunt said.

The Hunts were only supposed to be interim ministers there, but ended up staying for eight years.

“We stayed in Canada for a total of 12 years,” Hunt remembers. “Then we came back to South Carolina and began pastoring again.”

After leaving for Canada in 1984, the Hunts were happy to return to South Carolina in the mid-1990s.

“I was born in Greenville County in the old Greenville Memorial Hospital,” Hunt said. “My wife is a native of Belton-Honea Path.”

Moving has not affected church attendance, despite one member who lived just three houses from the Hunts Bridge Road location. She still comes to the Deer Creek Road location. Two other members lived on Raines Road, just down from the old church location.

But the church continues to attract people from the Upstate area, including Easley, Travelers Rest and other small towns in the Upstate.

Hunt lives in Greenville in a home he and his wife purchased four years ago. Previously he had depended on whatever church he served to supply a church parsonage, but the older he got, the better the idea of owning a home seemed.

Hunt is healthy now, but he once suffered a heart attack while on the church pulpit bringing the week’s sermon.

EMS was called in to take him to the hospital, where on Monday a muscular stress test was performed, and then on Tuesday a heart cauterization was performed. On Wednesday, a six-bypass open heart surgery was performed.

“But God was good,” Hunt said. “I was back in the pulpit four weeks later.”

In all, Hunt considers the heart problems somewhat of a blessing.

“I feel better now than I did 25 years ago,” he said.

After the church moved, there was a conversation about what the church would be known as. Hunt liked the word Grace being part of the title, and eventually members agreed with him.

“But we are legally The Church of God of Prophecy doing business as Grace Christian Fellowship,” Hunt said. “When we go into the community, we do not hesitate to tell people that we are a congregation of the Church of God of Prophecy. We don’t try to hide that.”

The Church of God and The Church of God of Prophecy have been separate denominations for many years.

The two used to be one denomination, “but a division took place in 1923,” Hunt said. “Out of that came two denominations — one became the Church of God of Prophecy in 1952.”

The two groups continue to work closely together, Hunt said.

While Hunt would love to see his church grow, he gets more excited when the church can send someone into the mission field. Recently, longtime member Houston Hunt, no kin to the Dacusville minister, trained for the ministry. He now pastors the Highlands Church of God of Prophecy.

Another member is currently being trained for a chaplain ministry, offering love and support but not focusing on preaching.

“I would love to see the building packed, but I would even more love to see more people come in and we could send them out to serve somewhere else,” Hunt said. ” I see growth in the kingdom of God as being a lot more important than just growth in one church.”

“Robin Nest,” ink and watercolor, Morgan Summerlin, Daniel High

Local artists honored at kickoff reception

COUNTY — Pickens County Youth Arts 2014 is now in full swing.

Saturday’s kickoff reception at the Pickens County Museum was attended by more than 800 proud parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends, and, of course, the talented young artists that created the 994 works of art that are on display at the museum through March 27.

The cultural commission presented awards to artists in both high school and middle school divisions at the reception.

In the high school division, first place went to Daniel High School’s Morgan Summerlin for the

Ben Robinson/Courier

The staff manning Joe’s in Easley Sunday included Taylor Baumgarner, Cody Tardiff, Jesse Holder, Mary Beth Albertson, Julie Ellison, Austin Hatcher and Austyne Douglas. “Every person who walks through that door is a blessing, and we need to appreciate our blessing or someday they might go away,” Ellison said her father, longtime restaurant owner Joe Lesley, told her.

By Ben Robinson, Courier Staff

Sundays are pretty much a dead time for businesses across Pickens County, but by Sunday afternoon, one place in particular is packed with customers.

The Easley Ice Cream Parlor, better known as “Joe’s” after its longtime owner Joe Lesley, has a regular crowd on Sunday afternoons.

“For a lot of people, coming here is just part of their Sunday schedule,” said Julie Ellison daughter of Joe and unofficial manager of the restaurant. “We get church groups, people who work together through the week and many others. We just know we appreciate them letting us be a part of their Sunday.”

The restaurant is packed on most weekdays, but Sundays draw a special

By Ben Robinson, Courier Staff

Cleve Holloway has led a very simple life. After receiving the calling to preach at a local church, Holloway says he noticed that several aspects of what his denomination taught were in conflict with what the Bible says.

“I brought it before the people in charge, and they basically said ‘We will go with what we teach and ignore what’s in the Bible,’” Holloway said. “So I

Preparing our children for the future

By Nicole Guttermuth, Courier Staff

Nicole Guttermuth

About this time for the last few years I’ve shared with readers fond memories of my childhood gearing up for the first day of school.

A self-professed nerd, dork and over-achiever, I’ve always loved school and I’ve recently been tinkering with the idea of enrolling myself into a Ph.D. program to earn the doctorate that’s always been part of my grand master plan for life.

Earning an education is stressed in my home to the point that I’m sure my girls roll their eyes behind my back occasionally. The older and wiser I become, the more life I experience, the more firmly I hold tight to the notion that having an education is essential for lifelong success.

 CONCORD BAPTIST CHURCH

Concord Baptist Church has been a fixture in Pickens County for well in excess of a century.

Pastor Roberts

On June 30, the church celebrated 125 years of ministry, as members dressed in a variety of old-fashioned styles, many drove classic cars and matched their clothing to their car models. An antique doctor’s buggy even made an appearance.

Church music director Roger Ellenburg led the congregation in a capella music, including selections sung at the church’s very first service on June 30, 1888. Members were challenged by messages from pastor Guy Roberts, who has served the church alongside his wife Wanda since November 1999, and former pastor Tommy Hayes.

The church’s anniversary celebration will continue throughout the summer, with special music, testimonies from church members, and the sharing of historical facts about the church’s culture.

The celebration will culminate during a Homecoming service on Sept. 22 with a documentary film highlighting the church’s history. Church officials invite family and friends to any services, especially the Homecoming service, which will begin at 10:30 a.m. and be followed by a meal on the grounds, with the film showing at 2 p.m.

Hayes will preach the morning message.

For more information, contact the church office at (864) 878-7461 or find Concord Baptist Church on Facebook.

Roberts, Hayes and the Concord Baptist congregation rejoice in what the Lord has accomplished, praying that God will continue to use the church fellowship for His glory.