When the Reverend Ate the Whole Pie

From about 1901 until 1941, my great grandparents, Leroy and Ada Parker, ran a big family farm in Perkins Township, Ohio.
















When it was threshing time, several men from the area would work together on getting in one farmer's crops. At the end of the day, the farmer's wife would serve a huge dinner for all the men who had toiled so hard all day. The next day they would take all the farm equipment and men, and move on to the next farm and do the same process all over again. Many a time, my mother re-counted to me the story of Rev. Thompson and the pie. My Great Grandma Ada, along with help from the other ladies, worked all afternoon on making a big dinner for the threshers. She put the pies on the porch to cool, and continued with getting all the other dishes ready. Well, Rev. Herbert Thompson, who pastored at the Perkins Methodist Church, fondly known as the "red brick church," stopped by to pay a visit. He ate a WHOLE pie!






















Grandma Ada was upset, as that was part of the dinner for those men who had been working so hard to get the crops in that day! When Grandma and Grandpa celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary, Rev. Thompson gave a talk at the party, and he fondly recalled the time he ate that whole pie! Mom said that under his breath, Grandpa Roy kept saying, "Well you weren't supposed to eat the whole thing!" Rev. Thompson would go to serve as the General Manager of Lakeside, and he lived to be 96 years of age. He officiated at many family funerals in the Parker and House families who had sat under his ministry in Perkins Township.