Preacher Man

My husband and I have been listing the men of the cloth in our families. Some are ancestors and some are cousins. They may be by blood or by marriage. Some I have written short biographies for and they are linked in.  

I have also listed our family faith backgrounds where known. 

This list will be on-going as we identify those men and women in our families who heard and obeyed a calling to serve as ministers or missionaries of God.

HER's
Rev. Millard M. AKERS (1890-1945), Church of God (Anderson, IN)
Elder David BARROWS (1835-1918), Primitive Baptist
Eld. Ira BOONE (1809-1866), Primitive Baptist
Eld. Isaiah H. BOONE (1802-1835), Primitive Baptist
Eld. Thomas BOONE (1785-1855), Primitive Baptist
Rev. Robert ELKIN (1745-1822), Separatist Baptist
Rev. Israel FRANCO, Church of God (Anderson, IN) 
Eld. Jabez HAM (1796-1842), Primitive Baptist
Eld. Stephen Peter HAM (1836-1908), Primitive Baptist
Eld. Abraham HOLLIS (1804-1870), Primitive Baptist
Rev. Arnold E. LARUE (1924-1997), Wesleyan
Rev. James E. LARUE (1903-1981), Wesleyan
Rev. Timothy PUSEY , Nazarene
Miss Edna F. THIMES (1914-1995), Church of God (Anderson, IN) Missionary Nurse
Rev. Ervin C. TIPTON (1900-1977), Methodist
Eld. Martin WHITE (1802-1862), Primitive Baptist


Baptist including Primitive Baptist; Catholic; Church of God (Anderson, IN.); Disciples/Church of Christ (Campbellite, Christian); Methodist; Nazarene; Quaker. 


+ + + + + + + + + +

HIS
Eld. James ASHTON (1641-1705), Primitive Baptist
Rev. Henry LOVEALL (1694-1778), Freewill Baptist
Rev. Morgan MORGAN (1737-1797), Episcopalian
Rev. Thomas MUSICK (1756-1842), Baptist
Rev. Wayne Sawyer, Nazarene 
Rev. James SIBBITT, Presbyterian
Eld. William David SCRIVNER, Jr. (1855-1924), Baptist
Rev. Alexander SULLENS (1830-1905), Disciples of Christ
Rev. Edward E. SULLENS (1865-1942), Methodist
Rev. Enos A. SULLENS (1867-1934), Methodist
Rev. James SULLENS (1860-1908), Methodist



Baptist including Primitive Baptist;  Catholic;  Church of God of Holiness;  Disciples of Christ;  Episcopalian;  Jehovah Witness;  Lutheran;  Methodist;  Nazarene; Presbyterian


Post compiled by Dolores J. Rush. Updated: 9-6-2022. 

Millard and Ethel Akers

Photo courtesy of Aker family

Rev. Millard Merle Akers (1890-1945) = Carpenter, School teacher, Farmer, Minister. Millard was born to Oliver and Clara Isabelle (Shaffer) Akers in Linn County, Kansas near Mound City on August 7. The Akers emigrated to Seward County, KS. Millard learned the carpenter trade from his father and then became a school teacher when he grew up and taught two years after he married his wife, Ethel Julia (1890-1974; great-granddaughter of Elder Martin White) on November 6, 1910 at her parent’s home, Alfred Jefferson and Fannie Viola (Bogart) White, east of Liberal, KS.

To this union, six children were born – Richard, Alfred, Fannie, Nellie, Arlene, and Donald. Richard, Alfred, and Don owned menswear clothing stores in Kansas – Richard, Pioneer Men’s Store in Elkhart; Alfred, Al’s Clothing in Kinsley; and Don in Dodge City. Fannie worked in the canteen at the Veterans Hospital in Wichita, KS; Nellie was a nurse and Arlene was a teacher and pastor’s wife.

Millard and Ethel moved to Baca County, Colorado after his school teaching days to a claim about fifteen miles west of Elkhart, Kansas. During this period of time, he felt God calling him to ministerial work. He pastored Church of God (Anderson, IN.) churches in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, and Florida. He was the pastor at the Liberal, Kansas church when his youngest daughter, Arlene was born. Millard filled the pulpit of the Pleasant Prairie Church of God near Satanta, KS. from time to time during the year of 1938-39 when the church was without a pastor. He was in Beaver County, Oklahoma at the time of his death with cancer on November 4, 1945. He was buried in Liberal’s city cemetery and Ethel was laid to rest next to him.

* I have happy memories of spending a week with Great-Aunt Ethel at her home in Liberal, KS during campmeeting one summer. She lived in a tiny bungalow across the street from the Church of God campmeeting tabernacle. Ethel’s granddaughter also had the privilege of staying that week too. Donna and I went shopping uptown, bought some liquid dip film in a can and wire to make plastic flowers from the dime store that was all the rage then and spent our week making bouquets of flowers to donate to the ladies missionary store on the campgrounds. The WOCG supplied linens and craft items to sell and the money collected went to help support Church of God missionaries, like Edna Thimes.

* I just learned this week that my grandmother was saved after her brother-in-law, Rev. Akers preached during the 1923 Liberal, Kansas Church of God (Anderson, IN) Camp-meeting.  And that my dad and mother met at camp-meeting several years later. 

More to Read:

1. Ancestry.com -- US Federal & State Census Records

2. Haskell County, Kansas. 1887-1987. 100 Years Beneath the Plow, A Historical Anthology. Ed. By Janice Lee McClure, Haskell County Historical Society. Mennonite Press, Inc., Newton, Ks. 1988.

3. “The Old Timers: As I Remember Them” by Chester C. Tucker. Printed c. 1963

4. White’s Family and Their Kin. Mrs. Gladys Esther White O’Neal and Elma Leota White Stoops. Paper Graphics, Garden City, KS; 1983. 
5. Gospel Trumpet, the Church of God (Anderson, IN) publication: Google Books and Internet Archive.  
6. 1937 Dust Storm Photograph of Elkhart, Kansas
7. An ad of Richard Akers' Pioneer Men's Wear & Department store on this sheet

8. Findagrave #10328566

Places to Visit in KS:

1. Church of God campgrounds, Liberal

2. Pleasant Prairie Church of God, Satanta
3. Morton County, Kansas Historical Museum, (Pioneer Men's Store exhibit), US Highway 56,  Elkhart 

Biography written by Dolores J. Rush. Updated: 7/3/2020

Patti Page (1927-2013): A Tribute

by Tim Akers,  son of Richard "Dick" Leon And Sally Kay (Fowler) Akers. 

Used by permission.

There were 11 Fowler children born to Benjamin and Maggie between 1910 and Christmas Day, 1929. On album liner notes and print interviews -- the children were just a number; here, they are Hazel, Daniel Benjamin, Trudie Jane, Sarah Louise, Mack Bolin, Charles Edward (Ed), Rema Ruth, Ruby Nell, Virginia Bell, Clara Ann, and Margaret Ellen (Peggy). Why mention them? That’s simple: Christmas is about family!


Their father worked on the Midland Valley Railroad in Eastern Oklahoma and supported all 13 of them on less than $50 a month; their mother picked cotton to augment that income. Over the years, a highlight of every family get-together became a happy time of reminiscing as each Fowler sibling related knee-slapping, laugh-until-you-cry stories – and how they tried to hide everything from their strict mother, Maggie. The Fowler family was rich beyond words when it came to their memories. They all had beautiful singing voices but there was one musical storyteller in the group who could interpret a story in song, who set the world on fire with hit after hit from 1948 until her last charted single in 1980. Through her final interview in December 2012, that storyteller reiterated that she wanted to be a commercial artist; she never wanted to be a singer. But “It just worked out that way. I guess God had other plans for me,” exclaimed Clara Ann Fowler, a.k.a. Patti Page.

The world lost one of its greatest ladies of song when Patti Page passed away on January 1, 2013. She left us a storehouse of recordings to cherish.

From our extended Fowler family to yours, here’s a heartfelt wish --

in every Christmas season –

you love, cherish, and enjoy your family and friends.

More to Read:
1. This is My Song: A Memoir. By Patti Page. (my copy was reprinted in 2009.)
2. Once Upon a Dream: A Personal Chat with All Teenagers. By Patti Page. Bobbs-Merrill, New York; 1960. 

3. The Liner Notes from the tribute 2013 CD recording of “Christmas with Patti Page.”

4. Patti Page Relatives Preserve Her Life: Tim Akers and Dena Roeder

5. Patty Page's Official Website

6. Baltimore Radio's Tribute to Patti Page
7. Patti's IMDb biography 
8. Wikipedia -- Patti Page
9. Travel Oklahoma's Tribute Page to Patti.
10. Oklahoma's Music Hall of Fame -- 1997 Inductee
11. Museum of Broadcast Communications -- search "Page, Patti"

12.  Obituary 1
13. Obituary 2
14. Obituary 3
15. Obituary 4
16. Obituary 5 (turn on sound)
17. Findagrave #103010674

It was a family tradition! Patti's grandfather Benjamin Fowler; her father, Ben A. Fowler; and her brother, Mack B. Fowler all worked for the Midland Valley Railroad company.  

Places to Visit: 
1. Claremore Museum of History, 121 North Wenonah, Claremore, OK.
2. Oklahoma State Historical Society (insert "Patti Page" into their search engine for current exhibit info)
3. OKPOP Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture (ditto for current exhibit info) Museum is being built across from Cain's Ballroom, 423 N Main St, Tulsa, OK, where Patti sang with Al Clauser and his Oklahomans and Bob Wills when she was in high school. 
4. Patti Page's Oklahoma Music Trail (Tim said #7 stop should be 3702 W. 43rd St., Tulsa, OK.)

Here's a sampling of some of Patti's songs:
(click on lower right hand corner of Youtube videos to enlarge screen)

Christmas Song

Home

Home for the Holidays

Home, Sweet Oklahoma

How Much Is That Doggie In the Window?

Jingle Bells

Life is just a Bowl of Cherries

Mockingbird Hill

Mom and Dad's Waltz

Moon River

Oklahoma Blues

The Person Who Used to Be Me

Silent Night

Want to hear more?

Click on my first YouTube playlist of Patti's music. 

This one has still shots of Patti that accompany her music. 

And this is my second YouTube playlist of Patti, filmed live as she sang her songs.