Rotary Program: 11/23/05

Program Chairperson: Jerry Kanney

Speaker: J. Morgan Chapman, Minister, Educator, and Rotarian

J. Morgan Chapman is a lifelong Pike County resident and has lived in Pikeville for the past 20 years with his wife, Brenda, who is Nurse-Manager of Women’s Services at Pikeville Medical Center. Morgan spent his teaching career in the Pikeville Independent School District and retired in 2003 to pursue a full-time preaching and music ministry. They have a daughter, Becky Thacker, who is a nurse/medical technologist with Dr. Hall, a dermatologist, and a son, Jonathan who is a loan officer with Community Trust Bank.

Morgan brought the annual Thanksgiving program with several quotes from sermons and illustrations by some famous authors he had researched for the occasion. Each illustration or excerpt from historical documents stressed the point that we need to remember to be thankful for the many blessings we enjoy as citizens of the greatest country that has ever existed on this planet. For example, Morgan quoted the first proclamation made by President George Washington in 1779, which says in part: “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.” Another official proclamation to make the day a permanent national holiday came from President Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863 in which he said, “I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” One particularly moving story Morgan shared concerned the life of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, the WW II commander who, along with a crew of several men, crashed their B-17 into the Pacific Ocean and spent nearly a month on a nine-foot raft, enduring the hardships of a blistering sun, little water, and no food. One day, when it seemed that all hope was gone, a lone sea gull flew down and lit right on Captain Eddie’s head. With the little meat that the bird provided, and the bait from its intestines to catch more fish, the crew survived and were later rescued. In his old age and until his death in 1973, Captain Eddie could be found every Friday night, wandering the piers in southern Florida, feeding the sea gulls pieces of shrimp from an old bucket. He never forgot to be thankful for that one sea gull who sacrificed its life so that he could live. Morgan concluded his program by telling the story about Dr. Alex Haley, the author of “Roots” and a picture that hangs on a wall in his office. It is a simple picture of a turtle on the top of a fence post. When asked about the picture, Dr. Haley said it was there to remind him to be thankful, because like that turtle all of us need to remember that - “We didn’t get where we are by ourselves.” - JMC