The Preacher's Son, My Father

February 21, 2012

I haven't seen my father since November 7, 1956 when he arrived home from work. He left the next morning, as usual, before I was up.  He traveled to the Loring Air Base in Limestone and went about his duties making deliveries for O'Donnel's Express. In the afternoon he was working on the restricted area of the base, where he was mortally wounded in an accident with his truck. There were no witnesses. What we know is that he was run over by his own truck, found and taken to the base hospital where he died from the injuries. There was suspicion of foul play, but our mother was never given the results of the investigation that we know occurred. That final story is in God's hands. And while our loss was acute and keenly felt, we also realize that God never makes a mistake. We have rested in that.

Our father didn't have very long to know his own dad, Rev. Clifford Burpee Cain. But I am sure he was much beloved by his preacher dad and prayer warrior. I am sure that his spiritual journey was largely in response to the prayers of his godly father.

Mom says that my father trusted Christ when he was a teenager. I remember how he loved the Word of God. Hearing him read the Bible aloud, while lying on his bed is one of the good memories I have of him. Seeing him and my mother kneeling in prayer, holding hands, and knowing they were praying for their children is a vision that has remained with me to this day.

As a baby and toddler, Paul Clifford Cain was taken to the West Road Church in Monticello. His father was ordained there and only lived until the year after his ordination when he died from tuberculosis of the spine. My grandmother was left as single mom of three children: Dorothy, Geneva, and her little son. Another girl had died as a young child from a "blood disease".

In time, my two aunts married sons of Bill Nason, their own father's dear friend. These two couples: Merle and Dorothy Nason & Vernon and Geneva Nason were godly people who always supported the Church and witnessed faithfully for Christ. They were a great influence on my father and mother, especially since the women were my father's sisters and the men were my mother's uncles!

I do not know how or when it happened, but my grandmother drifted away from her Church life and ended up marrying an unsaved man. They had three daughters, greatly beloved aunts to me: Norma, Barbara, and Ella. After a great number of years, my grandmother's second husband (Grampie Harley Simms) trusted in the Lord Jesus as his savior. My grandmother had returned to her Christian life and faithfully attended the Lake Road Church for worship and prayer services as long as she was physically able.

As a teenager, my father walked to the Pentecostal Church on the Muckatee Road in Monticello, as did some of his friends. It was apostolic in theology and he found it disappointing. It is unclear how frequently he attended Church at that time in his life, but as a young married man he attended the United Baptist Church in Littleton with my mother. After family and friends re-opened the Lake Road Church in Monticello, my Dad became active there as song leader and lay preacher.

Our Dad had memorized lengthy portions from the Bible. I remember when brother Clifford was only two years old and in the high chair, he had learned some passages from our Dad. The one I most remember was John 14:1-6. Dad loved to hear that little boy voice reciting the Word. It was a great joy to him.

My father had a marvelous singing voice, and as I became proficient at the piano he used to like me to play and sing with him. One of his favorites was "Heavenly Sunshine" and another was "The Love of God". My mother had those two songs sung at his funeral on November 11, 1956.

Besides his service at Lake Road, our father served as interim pastor at Plaster Rock and Lerwick, New Brunswick. Mom traveled to those Churches with him and played the organ. I dimly remember some of those trips.

--- This picture is of my father when he was a teenager.