Opening the mommy file . . .

When my mom married my father he was a member of Akron’s Trinity Lutheran Church and sang in the choir. “Everybody liked him and the Methodist minister where I went to church really liked him,” she recalled in answer to questions of mine. “In fact, my minister said to me (before the marriage), ‘You know, we think a lot of Dr. Leland,’ like I wasn’t good enough for him.

“Everybody knew him and liked him in Firestone Park. He was popular. People would sit on the steps all the way up to the front door to get in. He had a real knack for it. He could tell when something was wrong with people.

“I remember this friend I had, you dad said, ‘Yes, you are sick.’ Other doctors had told her she was a hypochondriac. He had her take these tests and found she had kidney problems.”

*****

Before opening a private practice, my dad had the distinguished position of company doctor for Firestone Tire & Rubber, based in Akron.

He used to tell us kids about the painstaking job of removing Harry Firestone’s ingrown eyelashes. He was in line to be medical director of the company and played golf regularly with all the bigwigs at Firestone Country Club, etc.

“He was always on the edge of everything,” said my mom. “Like with the stock market--he just couldn’t invest in some good stock and let it go. If he had, he’d of been wealthy. He thought he could swing and sway. Sell and buy. No one could talk to him about anything. He’d get mad at them and try to get even.”

While my mom (a teetotaler) said she was unaware of my dad smoking or drinking before they got married, his “partying” habits suddenly became a major part of his lifestyle in their early marriage and he’d regularly be out into the wee hours even on weeknights, playing poker and bar-sitting and stuff.

One of my brother’s early memories was of my dad driving his convertible Cadillac with the top down, handing my brother just-emptied beer cans to toss out onto the side of the highway. 

“He was drinking and one of the pastors at Trinity Lutheran who was a friend of ours tried to sit and talk to him about it like a minister would and your dad got mad because no one was telling him what to do,” says my mom. “He used to tell me that when I tried to give him advice: ‘You’re not the boss of me! You’re not telling me what to do!’ ”

My dad was still a heavy drinker when I was a baby. The same year I was born my mom’s dad died suddenly of a brain aneurism. That same year my mom slid down the staircase at our house with me in her hands and I broke my leg. My mom broke her foot and we were both treated at Akron Children’s since Dr. Kramer was a big associate of dad’s. Later that same year my mom got mono from a babysitter and, as a result, my grandmother had to pitch in to take care of us kids.

*****

I was a baby when my Dad decided to drop the Lutheran church to attend the Akron Baptist Temple, pastored by Dallas Billington.

 “Dallas Billington and his wife were patients,” recalls my mom. “He knew what was wrong with Mrs. Billington when everybody had written her off, but she had gallstones, as it turned out. Your dad did these tests on her and found them. Like I said, he knew what was wrong with people. . .

“When he told me and my mother about going to Billington’s church and asked us to come to his baptism, I didn’t even know he was joining! I had quit my church for him and went to the Lutheran church because he sang in the choir and he wanted to be there and I thought, ‘Okay, women usually go to their husband’s church.’ He couldn’t even do the decent thing and tell me ahead of time (about switching to the Baptist Temple)?! We lost all of our friends (at the Lutheran church) and everything.”

*****

I remember I was living in New York and visiting my dad after my mom divorced him when I asked him for the first time how he became saved. Prior to that I never knew! He said Billington was at a doctor’s appointment inside my dad’s office and got out his Bible, praying with my dad, giving him the gospel. My dad accepted Christ as his Savior and Billington even gave him his personal Bible at the time!    

Akron Baptist Temple was a pioneer in the mega-church trend. For the longest time I had a little leather KJV New Testament given me when I was little that was embossed on the back with, “Akron Baptist Temple. ‘World’s Largest Sunday School.’

Billington was a man who had heart problems and actually died of a heart attack in 1972 when my dad was on the mission field as a missionary doctor in Ecuador. I even think, ‘Maybe if my dad had still been his doctor he would have stayed alive!’

From a biography on Billington, posted to the website Higherpraise.com under the category “Greatest Preachers,” is this outtake:

"On Easter Sunday 1945, Akron Baptist Temple had 10,123 attend with over 80 people accepting Christ. On June 29, 1947, ground was broken for a new five-story, air-conditioned church facility that would seat 4,000 people. It had 41,000 square feet of floor space and included a main auditorium with balcony, classrooms, three additional auditoriums, nursery, family parlor and restrooms. Parking lots had space for 1,500 cars. Total cost was one million dollars, but the church mortgage was less than $250,000 at completion. It was dedicated the first Sunday of April 1949 with over 38,000 people present and over 100 people accepting Christ. The event was reported in national magazines and newspapers throughout the United States. Another educational building was constructed in 1957. In 1960 a Sunday school campaign brought average attendance to over 6,000.

“Over the years, Billington received many honors. He was recognized far and wide as an effective evangelist, church builder and leader. In 1955, Bob Jones University awarded him the Doctor of Divin-ity degree. In 1969, Christian Life magazine honored Billing-ton and Akron Baptist Temple with the “World’s Largest Sunday School” award. At that time the membership of the church was over 16,000 and average Sunday school attendance was 5,762 each week. Billington said the church’s growth was the result of godly jealousy, evangelism and visitation, use of Sunday school buildings, promotion, tithing, busing and separation from worldly influence. At the church’s beginning in 1935, Billington enlisted J. Stanley Bond as his Sunday school superintendent and told him, “You stick with me, Stanley, and together we’ll build the biggest Sunday school in the world.”

“In the 1930s, Billington began to associate with the independent Baptist group led by the Texas fundamentalist J. Frank Norris. When the Baptist Bible Fellowship was established in 1950, he aligned himself with the new movement, although he didn’t participate in the events involved with its founding. His church bought the first neon sign for Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. Over the years, young preachers called under his ministry planted numbers of churches throughout the country. Billington maintained an active revival ministry as an evangelist. During his ministry, Akron Baptist Temple contributed to the support of over 200 missionaries in nearly 100 countries. From the beginning the church had a radio broadcast and later a television ministry. It also owned Ohio Baptist Acres, a 178-acre all-purpose camp. In 1962, Billington wrote and distributed thousands of copies of his autobiography titled, God is Real.

“In the early evening on Saturday, August 26, 1972, after a full day of activities, Dallas Billington began experiencing symptoms of a heart attack. He was immediately taken to the Akron Medical Center where he died at 11:20 p.m. Funeral services were conducted by his longtime friend, Evangelist B. R. Lakin. He described Billington as a rugged man’s man who had great faith, mighty devotion and character. He explained that Billington had millions of dollars pass through his hands but they didn’t stick; he used them for the glory of God. Above all, he spoke of Billington’s great love for souls. He loved and preached and worked and toiled for souls, he said. A crowd of more than 6,000 people
attended the services. His son, Charles F. Billington, succeeded him as pastor.”