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A MATCH MADE continued A MATCH MADE con't from FRONT PAGE Both Bill and Lois grew up in Illinois. Although Lois’ relatives were all farm people, Lois grew up in the city of East Moline with her brother and sister. Her dad was a roofer, so they weren’t wealthy, but they had a happy home and made the best of it. Lois smiles, “My parents were very loving; we did everything together. At Christmas, my mother made all kinds of doll clothes for my dolls. We always had music in our home because my dad loved music and played musical instruments. School never came easy as Lois was shy and the youngest in her class, but she pulled through, and after graduation she went to work at a news agency. Born in 1940, in Milan, Illinois, Bill was joined by a little sister in 1944, the same year his father was drafted to serve with Navy in WWII. Bill tells, “My dad got pneumonia and passed away. After some time, my mother remarried a WWII veteran named Ken Pepke who was a good step dad. He and my mom had a son named John. I was both lazy and smart in school, so I learned how to get by—barely. I suppose I struggled because of my dad’s death.” Upon turning 19 years old, Bill was drafted to serve in Vietnam. He trained with a Ranger outfit, but he was never sent to Vietnam. Bill remembers, “When I got out of the military at age 21, I was living a wild life, and I knew I needed to calm down. As a lost man, I started asking God to show me who I should marry.” During that time, a mutual friend named Janet insisted that Bill and Lois go out on a blind date. Bill says, “I wouldn’t go on a blind date; Lois wouldn’t go on a blind date; but the girl would not leave us alone. Lois laughs, “She finally told me I didn’t have anything better to do.” Finally they agreed, Bill was 26, and Lois was 23. After that first date, Bill either called Lois or saw her every day after that. Only knowing each other for two months, Bill asked Lois to marry him. Even though he bought her a diamond ring, Bill just knew the marriage wouldn’t last because Lois was too conservative. After eleven months of knowing each other, they got married on May 13, 1967; Lois was 24; Bill was 27. When the preacher started the ceremony, Bill was in a haze. He exclaims, “When the preacher said you’re going to forsake all others, I’m thinking, ‘I don’t agree with that.’” Bill and Lois McClure, May 13, 1967. A MATCH MADE con't next column While working at John Deere as a maintenance man, Bill saw a man reading his Bible and asked, “Have you found anything in there worth reading?” The man answered, “I found the secret to eternal life.” Bill went home and read the Bible for about 40 hours, got down on his knees, and got saved. This was three and a half years into the marriage. Six months later, after three different ladies invited Lois to church, and a co-worker invited Bill, they attended church one Sunday morning. Lois says, “The very first time I attended a Baptist church, I got saved. When the Pastor painted the picture of Christ on the cross, it was the first time I had genuinely heard the Gospel.” Never missing a church service, Bill was soon called to preach. His first response was, “‘No way! I’ll never do that to my family.’ I became sick on the inside, but there was nothing wrong with me—I’ve never been so ill in all my life. Once I surrendered, my stomach issues went away just like that. One Wednesday night, I went forward in a service. When the preacher asked if everything was okay, all of a sudden the words burst out of my mouth, ‘God has called me to preach!’” Bill and Lois packed up their belongings and drove 700 miles to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to attend Tennessee Temple University. Bill recalls, “My mom asked what I was going to do for a living once I got down there. I said, ‘We are going to trust God.’ When you tell someone you’re going to trust God, they think you’re going to sit in a chair, fold your hands, and wait for God to do something. Of course, that’s not what you do, but they broke into tears.” Lois shares, “We were taking away their two grandsons—Rex and Todd. I haven’t always agreed with my husband, but I’ve always had confidence that when we made a move, God was leading.” The preacher encouraged Bill to attend Tennessee Temple, but when they arrived the school had no openings. However, somebody dropped out, and Bill was accepted. Getting started back to school was rough, but he stuck it out and graduated in time. Lois remembers a funny story. “Bill was failing a class, so I took it with him to help him—he passed, I didn’t. It was an 8 o’clock class; I was pregnant; and it was terrible.” With now three young sons—Rex, Todd, and Paul—managing life, school, and family was challenging! Upon graduation, God’s will was uncertain. Not wanting to become a professional student, Bill pursued some churches, until he met the military director for BIMI who needed pastors to go overseas and serve military churches. Bill says, “I went home and told Lois we were going overseas. She’s a homebody, and she definitely wasn’t going overseas, but she agreed, ‘If God will take away the fear, I’ll go.’ God took away the fear! We went to the Azores, a collection of nine islands in the middle of the Atlantic, where they speak Portuguese. Although we didn’t know the language, we ministered at the Air Force Base." At the base, there were three branches of the service—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force. The Air Force ran the base. The Navy flew the P3 spy planes, and the Army took care of the shipping. The mission of the base was to supervise the Russian submarines from the P3 airplane, sub detectors. Bill brags, “Those Navy pilots were good, boy, were they good! The pilots could land their P3s in 100 miles an hour cross winds. The church really grew during this wonderful time of ministry. The tour of duty was 18 months for the military families, so a family left every single month but a new family would join. The McClures served from 1977-1980 before moving to Spain. In Spain, the church families wanted to start a Christian school. Bill tells, “I originally said, ‘No,’ but they kept pleading with me, so we started an ACE school to include our children and theirs. In the Azores, Lois schooled our children, and in Spain, another lady came along to help with the high school children. Living in Spain from 1980-1990 was an adventure! Neither Bill nor Lois speak Spanish, but Lois spoke enough to do the shopping. A MATCH MADE con't. p. 36 Happy 80th Anniversary Krispy Kreme! While touring downtown Old Salem in Winston Salem, I came across this landmark "Commemorating the original Krispy Kreme Doughnut Shop" established July 13, 1937. 80 years later, there are over 1,000 stores, trademarked coffees, and very happy customers. Shaw House Fair Join the Moore County Historical Association Oct. 14, 9-4 at the annual Shaw House Fair at the Shaw House, corner of Broad Street and Morganton Road in Southern Pines. No admission charge, with vendors selling vintage antiques and collectibles on the grounds. Tours of the Shaw House, the Garner House and Sanders Cabin, all on the grounds, will be available. �� For more information visit: www.moorehistory.com call (910) 692-2051. Our events are also listed on Facebook at www.facebook.com/moorehistorical. See the Shaw House story, p. 2. Illustration by L. S. Crain, Southern Pines. p.34 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. No. 127


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