By Bill Keith
Miss Bess was the first non-family member to really love me. From my earliest memories, she and her husband, a retired Presbyterian minister, sat on the pew behind our family every Sunday at Second Church in Concord. At 77, she was an unlikely friend to a new baby boy but for nearly 13 years she loved me as if I were her own. During the recent rainstorms, I was cleaning out old papers at home and stumbled upon this note in her scrawled handwriting. "My dear little Bill, I want you to use this to help get your education to do some kind of church work. You are very dear to me. I think you sing so well and can be a leader to help others and be a good help to so many. God bless and keep you in his love and care. Your friend with love, Miss Bess"I was instantly transported to the day, nearly fifty years ago, when Miss Bess gave me this note along with some money that seemed like a fortune to a 10-year-old boy. She later told my dad that she had saved a little every week for me.
Miss Bess showed what it means when we affirm the baptismal question: "Do we the people of the church promise to tell this child the good news of the gospel, to help them know all Christ commands, and by our fellowship strengthen their family ties with the household of God?"
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