001_A_001_RLOW 4.mp3
This is Abby Brown. I’m interviewing Esther Loyd. We are conducting this interview at Esther’s home in Billings, Missouri. The date is November 27, 2009. This interview is for the Religious Lives of Ozarks Women Archives conducted through Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.
A: How long have you been a member of the Billings Christian Church?
E: About 25 years.
A: How did you get involved there?
E: Well, really, my son and his wife were members there and they just encouraged me to attend with them.
A: What was the role of religion in your home when you were growing up?
E: Well, I lived on a farm and we lived within about a half a mile of the Baptist Church. And, out in the country. And so occasionally we would go there and sometimes we would even walk through the field to get there.
A: Well, so I guess that means you’ve been involved with other church organizations.
E: That’s true.
A: Yeah. Well, what was your strongest childhood memories related to God? Or religion?
E: Well, of course I, you know, I enjoyed going whenever, long time ago, you know, when before electricity even came to the, and, really, the most outstanding thing I remember would be the funerals of my grandparents. But, you know, we, we attended church probably, you know, once a month or something like that.
A: Yeah. Well, do you recall any times as a child that things were different for you in your religious world because you were a girl and not a boy?
E: No.
A: Never?
E: There was never any difference.
A: Wow. Well what differences have you experienced in your religious life because you’re a woman?
E: Really, none. I, I don’t think there’s any discrimination.
A: That’s really good, that really is. Well, what challenges or struggles have you faced in your religious life?
E: None.
A: None?
E: None.
A: That’s really good – you’re very lucky!
E: (laughs) Well, I try to have an open mind about my religion and I’m, you know, I, Iattend other churches.
A: That’s good.
E: So.
A: What person has most influenced you in your religious life?
E: Oh, I’d say, our pastor right now at the Christian Church, MickiPulleyking.
A: Well, how did she influence your life?
E: Well, I, I like her sermons, I like because she,a lot of them are about how we should live and how we should treat people and how we should go by the rules of the Bible, and, and, and live like, you know, like Jesus instructed us to.
A: That’s good, I like that. How do you think religious life is different for you, for kids today, than it was for you when you were a kid?
E: Well, it’s a lot more active, he’s in the church, especially you know for the young people, which makes it more interesting and helps to draw in, more interest, you know, and get people involved. And really, I never, the church, religions are a little more lenient, I think, than they used to be. There’sseveral things that wouldn’t be tolerated a long time ago that there is now.
A: Yeah, things are different. Well, how would you like this church to remember you?
E: Oh, as a, as a person that has donated quite a bit of time to different causes and, and as a person that’s tried to live by the rules of the Bible and treat people fairly. And, it just, I just tried to live by the Bible.
A: That’s really good.