Prayers for the Preacher

Got this note from Don Nance's wife Letty:

Dear Friends and Family,

Some of you already know, others don't, so allow me to repeat. Don had surgery on July 10 in Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill at which time the most of his colon was removed due to Crohn's Disease. Three weeks later an abscess developed in his lower abdomen and we returned to UNC. A drain tube was inserted, but last week there were problems, and we again made the trip to the UNC hospital. This time they put in a larger tube. We came back home Sunday, but he is very weak and discouraged. As Donnie, our son, said, "He's sick and tired of being sick and tired,"

It seems that every time we have to make the three and half hour trip to Chapel Hill it makes him weaker. The weakness is depressing him (and me).

We are strong believers in the power of prayer and ask you to lift him up at this time.

Much love,

Letty Nance

The Field House

By Ed Myers

Don Nance and I go all the way back to Elizabeth School. He is one of the most positive people I've ever known. Only once in our long friendship have I ever known him to be "depressed." It was in the summer of 1953. We had just finished one of those awful preseason football practices and were in the showers at the luxurious field house next to the track beside the practice field when I heard Don suddenly shout out a couple of his favorite cuss words......."Oh shoot!,"he said. "Darn it to heck," Dern, Dern, Dern!"

What happened was, he had placed his brand new watch on top of the shower wall (which was nothing but those hollow concrete cinderblocks) and the watch had slipped down......in there...probably all the way to the bottom) As you can imagine, the Reverand, Dr. (to be) Don Nance was not a happy camper. I was afraid he would start gnashing his teeth next, but he suddenly returned to his old demeanor.......and said simply, "I'll just have to get it."

I thought to myself, "no way, Jose." The only way to get that watch out was to tear down the wall.

I was about to learn WHY Don was always so positive. Problems were never anything but "opportunities in disguise" to him. (That saying is not original with me, but it sure fits!)

Later that evening, Don came back with his brother, who was very handy with construction tools, and somehow the two of them figured out how far down the watch probably fell.....and they drilled a hole in the wall and, voila! there was the watch!.

Unfortunately I heard recently that the old field house had been torn down. That's too bad. I was going to take a picture of that hole in the back wall and frame it so I can tell the story of the "hole" to my grandchildren when they get discouraged and think nothing can be done.

I'm confident Don will conquer this illness as well.

-Ed