Dear Editor:
To our children, they were Granddaddy and Nanna. To the world of Christian education, they were giants.
The first time I met Leon Castle, I had just stepped off a plane in Richmond, Va., to visit his oldest daughter, Karen. I was wearing tight white pants, the kind you’d find at Abercrombie & Fitch. As Karen and I reached the car arm in arm, I opened the door, and Leon politely proclaimed, “My, those certainly are some fine white pants you’re wearing!”
This month, Karen and everyone associated with Christian education or Sunday school lost two of those giants when Leon and his wife, Nancy, died and were united with the Lord they served. They dedicated their lives to teaching teachers how to teach God’s word and to making it relevant to our daily living. I would argue that our churches, and perhaps our society, are poorer for the loss of teachers who could inspire people to bring Scripture into their daily lives, as servants like Leon and Nancy did.
That kind of teaching already was fading before they left us. When the fundamentalist movement began taking control of the Southern Baptist Vonvention’s boards and agencies, it left no room for discussion or disagreement. I heard stories of colleagues who went to lunch at the Sunday School Board and returned to find a pink slip announcing their dismissal.
I saw Leon cry only once, at the 1990 SBC meeting in New Orleans, where the fundamentalist movement cemented its control of the denomination. In that moment, Leon knew the convention he had served would be remade and that much of his life’s work would be erased with it.
Truth be told, we are losing many of the servants of a previous SBC, one a new generation of Baptists never will get to experience. Leon and Nancy were among them, and I mourn them deeply, knowing how freely they gave of themselves.
Our children called them Granddaddy and Nanna. I will always remember them as being like my own parents, who inspired us all with God’s living word.
Kerry Smith, Memphis, Tenn.