Click here to see the Oct. 24, 2009, Neighbors section in its entirety
By Erica Bowlin for the Times-Tribune
“My dad told me something on his death bed that I have carried with me all my life. He said, ‘son, it doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s where you’re going that counts,” said Pastor Donald ‘Gene’ Greene of London.
“I started collecting things when I was little. I was the third of ten children, and back then you had to find things to keep yourself busy, there weren’t any video games to play. So I started collecting things that I found interesting,” said Greene.
Greene’s parents, Guy and Nannie, worked to teach their children some basic life lessons.
Greene’s parents were missionary Baptists, and along with working hard, they taught their children the value of a having a relationship with God. The whole family worked together, each assigned his own chores.
“We prayed together and went to church, we learned how to live.”
Greene grew up and married Doris Deaton, a local Laurel County girl. He worked hard to instill the same work ethic and sense of faith in his own children that his parents taught him.
“I was a husband and father of four,” he said. “I had a good job and life was going along just fine.”
But something in the man’s life felt incomplete. While on the job working on a concrete machine, Greene became overwhelmed by frustration, and discontent. He wasn’t sure why things happened the way they did, but remembered asking his foreman if there were anyone else that could run his machine.
“I just told him I was tired, and I was going home,” he said.
A few days later, Greene went along with a church group to a revival. There he discovered what was missing in his life.
“It was in August 1960, I remember it like it was yesterday,” said Greene.
On the sixth day of revival, Greene felt the Holy Spirit spoke to him and he knew that if he would just get up and walk down the aisle, he would be saved. The father of five did walk down the aisle and fell to his knees at the altar.
Greene asked forgiveness for his sins and asked God to come into his heart.
“I said, ‘Lord, please roll this burden of sin away, and I will devote my life to you.’ The burden was lifted, and I felt the spirit all around me.”
Donald Greene gave his life completely and fully to God that day and never looked back.
He became more involved in his church, speaking at youth functions and studying the Bible.
Although he kept working his day job as a contractor, Greene felt compelled to spend as much time as possible in prayer and to share what he was learning with others.
A few years later, he traveled with a group from his church to Jerusalem.
It was a trip, he said, that changed his life. Greene felt the Holy Spirit all around him as he listened to a local sermon, and it occurred to him that Jesus himself had walked those same streets of Nazareth, preaching the gospel.
“I looked down at my Bible, and I knew I what I had to do. The spirit called me to become a pastor.”
Greene returned home and continued studying the Bible and began preaching the Word of God.
Greene became a full-time pastor and preached for many years, and now, although he is retired, he hasn’t slowed down very much.
Gene is a member of Soul’s Harbor Church in London. He also visits Laurel Heights Nursing Home on a regular basis.
The church pastor, Ronnie Ball, gave Gene the responsibility of leading the ‘Young at Heart,” a group of seniors in the church, who along with studying the Bible together, also enjoy taking group trips.
In 2001, Greene was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and has been on chemotherapy treatments on and off for the last three years. But cancer has not stopped him from continuing to do what he loves most.
“The cancer never has made me angry; I know all things work together for the glory of God, even bad things happen for a reason.”
Greene explained that the cancer, if anything, has kept him humble. His children have had a hard time with it, but their father tells them not to worry. He tells them that God knows what He is doing, and they will simply have to trust in that.
On Oct. 10, 2009, Greene celebrated his 75th birthday, and his church family declared the weekend “Gene Greene Weekend.”
And a lifetime of hard work, Greene said his greatest accomplishment is still his children.
“Gail, Debbi, Doris Vivian, Darlene and Dwight have all grown up to be good people and that is what really makes me proud.”
Now a great-grandfather, Greene remains busy working with his church and spending time with his family. He continues his chemotherapy treatments and is planning a trip next year to South Africa.
There are still some days when Gene simply doesn’t feel like getting up and going. That’s when he opens the shutters in his bedroom, lets in the sunlight and prays.
“I thank the Lord for giving me the chance to live another day, and ask for the strength I need to continue on.
So far, he says, that prayer has worked really well.
“I may burn out, but I will never rust out.”
Erica Bowlin is a former Miss Whitley County. She is a mother and homemaker currently living in Lily. She can be reached at ericalynnbowlin@yahoo.com
