DENMARK, S.C. - One morning recently, 90-year-old Nina Neeley Martin of Denmark was at the old cemetery out in the country, where the first Bethel Methodist Church once stood, supervising the cleanup crew in getting the cemetery ready for visitors during Bethel Park’s centennial week events July 6-13.

Martin is the oldest active member of Bethel Park.

“The old church was right there where those trees are,” Martin said, pointing east beyond the cemetery fence to a stand of pines.

She worked closely with Herbert Fogle, now deceased, compiling the history of Bethel Park.

Martin’s grandparents, Elisabeth and Edward Sojourner, were among the church founders in 1908, and her church membership has been at Bethel Park her entire life.

Hearing the church bell ring every Sunday morning about an hour before Sunday School and when it was time to go into church is one of Martin’s special early memories.

“I still can hear that bell ringing in my mind. ... I would hear that bell and know it was time to get ready to go to town to Sunday School and church,” Martin said. “Every Sunday, Lee, an old crippled ... man who was church custodian, would ring the bell. I’d see him swinging up on the rope and down again as he rang the bell, telling us to go in and sit down for preaching.”

Today, that bell sits in a special place between the sanctuary and fellowship hall in the church’s Bell Garden, she said.

“I wish it was still up in the bell tower so I could hear it ring on Sunday mornings like I did when I was growing up,” Martin said.

Martin’s church membership has never moved away from Bethel Park UMC, even though she did live away from Denmark at different times over the years.

“I was baptized on the front porch of my grandma’s house, where I lived with my family. Our minister was Mr. Wiggins. He was visiting the family on a Sunday afternoon. Mama was pregnant, and so she couldn’t go to church during that time. I guess that’s why I was baptized at home so Mama could be there. I remember my father helping get me dressed up,” Martin said. “Daddy picked me up, and Mr. Wiggins baptized me standing on the front porch. I was about three years old ...”

On Sunday mornings, Martin drives herself to church if her son is unable to take her. She has been a devoted choir member for most of her adult life, joining at age 15.

“Ms. Nina had a good voice, a wonderful spirit and a smile that was a bright spot on the back row,” said Mimbee Baker, Bethel Park Choir member.

Martin says her choir experiences “have been so wonderful. My choir friends are all really special people. I love every one of them. They are my church family in every way.”

T&D Correspondent Laura G. Carlson can be reached by e-mail at Laura@carlsonclan.com or by phone at 803-793-3336.

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