Read Online The Pastor's Wife by Diane Fanning - Free Book Online Page B

Mary’s nose. If she stood up for herself, he’d say, “That’s your ugly coming out.”
    On one occasion, he sat her down and shouted, “You are my wife and we are a family now! Quit inviting your brothers and sisters over, and stop going over there all the time!”
    They eventually returned to Henderson, where Matthew continued his education and Mary became the family breadwinner. She got a full-time job in the deli at Piggly Wiggly. Their first child, Patricia Diane Winkler—named for Mary’s deceased sister and Matthew’s mother—wasborn in the Jackson–Madison County General Hospital at 3 o’clock in the afternoon of September 30, 1997.
    Matthew graduated with a degree in Biblical Studies in 1998 and accepted a job as youth minister at the Goodwood Boulevard Church of Christ in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was the first time Mary ever lived outside of Tennessee and she grew more homesick with each passing day. Matthew was not happy, either, being so far from his family. He searched for a new opportunity in his home state.
    Mary’s feelings of separation grew even more intense when her mother’s life began to fade with the onset of cancer. Mary was pregnant with her second child when her mother passed away on April 10, 1999. With the death of Mary Nell, Mary’s adopted siblings turned to her for help, guidance and comfort even more than before.
    Matthew found a new youth minister position at the Bellevue Church of Christ in Nashville in June of 1999. He and Mary purchased a 1,300-square-foot home, still under construction, for $132,350 in Pegram, a town of 2,100 residents just nine miles from the church.
    They moved back to Tennessee just in time for the birth of their second daughter. On Saturday, July 10, the furniture arrived at their new apartment and Mary began unpacking her household. On Tuesday, she went into labor. Mary Alice—named for Mary’s mother and Matthew’s great-grandmother—was born on Wednesday, July 14, five weeks premature. They nicknamed the baby girl Allie.
    Their new home in the quiet hilltop neighborhood on Elkmont Place in the Grandview Heights subdivision was ready in September. It was not a good time for Mary. She was still grieving for her mother, suffering from a case of post-partum blues and caring for a toddler and an infant. Soon after, Matthew invited Mary’s sisters and brothers for a visit at their new home.
    Mary’s family griped a lot about their infrequent visits with their sister. They were not pleased with Matthew’s answer to their complaints: “Mary is not your sister like she was your sister when you were growing up. She ismarried now. She has two children now. Her responsibility is here, with her new family.”
    He was angry at their demands on Mary. The passion he brought to the football field and to the pulpit felt oversized when it was revealed in a small roomful of people. The Freeman clan left Pegram with the feeling that Matthew was controlling, domineering and mean. Where did Mary stand in this confrontation? Did she resent Matthew’s interference with her family? In later years, she would agree with her siblings’ view, but, at the time, she appeared to side with her husband; friends recalled the negative comments she made about her family at the time.
    Parishioners at Bellevue Church of Christ developed contradictory impressions of their new youth minister and his wife. One would say that Mary was the friendlier of the two. Another would insist that Mary was an odd person with poorly developed social skills.
    The conflicting opinions may have been the result of Mary’s unsettled state of mind, which led to dramatic mood swings. She was again coping with the childhood loss of her sister—feelings resurrected when her mother died. Two back-to-back pregnancies exacted an emotional toll. Adjusting to two new neighborhoods and two new congregations in a short span