Willa Mae Champion and Ludrell Pope

Reminiscing

Mr. Ludrell: When Clarence first moved here no colored people was visiting him, because they were scared. As time went on they got closer to him. Clarence was a very nice man. He believed in helping people. He would leave stuff at their door, when no visiting was allowed. Since Clarence's time, Koinonia has changed a lot. As years go by many changes have been made. Since Clarence died, Koinonia people don't visit the community area or cooperate together. For instance, the camp site was a meeting place, but its gone down. Building houses was the best thing that Koinonia has done. When volunteers visit me, the first question is "What's Koinonia like to me? Are they really a Christian organization?" My answer is: At the beginning Koinonia was more of a Christian organization than they are now. The worship service is not the same, the neighborhood don't participate anymore. My church use to come and sing and we don't do that anymore.

I can remember the boycott. The boycott was a terrible time. They tried to buy Clarence out, he wouldn't sell; they tried to run him out, that didn't work. They burned the buildings. I can recall one Sunday, we saw a gang of people dressed in long white robes and hoods. Clarence was a man that you couldn't scare; no matter what they did, he didn't budge a bit. I believe he was a firm believer in God and God was protecting him. Clarence would remind you of Job in the Bible. The Lord was always with him, because no one was hurt. During the boycott time they wouldn't sell him anything, no hogs, fertilizer, or fuses. At that time he had neighbors (like) Frank Monts to purchase the hogs for him. Mr. Carranza Morgan use to buy supplies for Clarence at that time, also. People in Sumter County were very tight and hard on Clarence. No one wanted to sell him anything. I feel like God sent Clarence here. I don't know where he came from, but when he got to Sumter County, it was the Lord's will, to take care of him.

Mrs. Champion: I came to work here in the early sixties. I started to work in the bakery after Clarence asked Mrs. Morgan to get someone to help her work with the fruitcake so he could be free to do other work around Koinonia. I remember Clarence asking me to go to the Post Office for Postage to do the mailing and he wanted $1000.00 worth of postage. Clarence asked me if I was afraid to go for Koinonia and I said No. When I got to the Post Office and up to the window, the Clerk ignored me and kept talking to people in the office and I just stood there for a while and finally I said to myself, "I know how to get his attention." I said out loud, "I would like a thousand dollars worth of postage, please!" and every head in the office turned and looked at me. I told Clarence what happened and he just laughed.

One of the things that stands clear out in my mind to me is, when making the candy the first time, after trying over and over again and having such a hard time trying to get it to come out right, I thought he was ready to give up, but one morning, I asked him, "What's on your agenda today?" He said, "Lets clean out the pot and try it again." and I said to myself, "This man is crazy!" But that thought stayed with me for a long time: "Clean out the pot and try it again." Before we could get it right, I was in a car accident. While in the hospital the thought kept coming to me: "Clean out the pot and try again." I thought about this while I was recovering and when I returned to work, Clarence had changed. He was more into his Bible work. He would stay down in his shack for a long time, throughout the day, working on it and as a matter of fact that's where he died. Before he went to the shack everyday, he would ask what we needed "because once I get to the shack no one is to disturb me, not even Florence." One day, I said to him, "I want you to tell me everything, because I plan on running this place for you and you won't have to worry about it while you are at the shack." He replied, "You are saying this for a joke, but I just might be expecting that.

I remember there was a family here whose father was a minister in town and one black volunteer (Collins McGee). The minister invited Clarence and his family to worship service and Collins went also. The next morning when I saw Clarence, I could tell he had something on his mind, and he said, "You gotta minute?" and I said, "No, but you're going to tell me anyway." He said, "I saw the Lord last night." I said, "Wait a minute, I know we are making bad candy, but it's not that bad, is it?" He said, "I am not joking with you." I said, "What Lord? You mean the one that's up above the clouds?" He said, "Yes, that's the one." I asked him, "Did you talk to him?" He said, "Yes!" I said, "Let me sit down, because I really want to hear this."

"The church was having a good time singing when we got there and everyone was happy, until they saw Collins. One of the men started saying, 'He can't come in here!' I stopped to see who he was saying couldn't come in the church. The man said, 'You know who I am talking about, the fellow back behind you.' I tried to explain that all of us were together, but the man said again, 'He can't come in.' I said, 'If he can't, then we will go back because we were all together.' I waited for a while and asked the man, 'Is this the Lord's house?' The man said, 'Yes, this is the Lord's house, this is our church.' I said, 'As long as you use the Lord's name in this place, I will be back. If you take His name out, then you won't have any trouble out of me; otherwise, I will be back."

After listening to Clarence's story, I said to myself, "Maybe he did see the Lord. Because that might have been the Lord in that place being turned away." I really believe that Clarence believed in the Lord.

Mr. Ludrell: The way I feel about it, the Lord had Clarence fit so He could work with him like He wanted to, because at times, He didn't want no one around him, He wanted him off to Himself, so He could deal with him the way He wanted to. I thought about that time after time, that the Lord had him to build a place offlike (the shack) so He could communicate with him in that way. The Lord outlined what He wanted done and the way He wanted it done. One thing about it, I believe Clarence followed God's instruction.

Mrs. Champion: I learned a great deal from Clarence and I loved him.

Mr. Ludrell: I believe Clarence followed the Lord's instruction, because, once Florence was invited to this church (one on 49) and when they found out she was Clarence's wife, they asked her to leave and on her way out the door, Florence said, "If you ever need my help, you know where I am." Clarence was guided by God's spirit. I will always believe that. No matter what he started with all the ups and downs he would always come out successfully. For example, when he started building houses, people thought it wouldn't work, but look at it now, look where it has gone. He is sleeping in his grave, but his work is going right on. After building houses, he, Millard and Linda started the sewing industry. A lot of people learned a lot from the sewing industry, because when they went to Americus for work, they were hired because they had experience and they were hired first before others who filled out applications. Then the pecan plant began and it became big. They grew a lot of pecans and also bought a lot.

Mrs. Champion: I remember a joke about Clarence. When I was in the hospital, Clarence brought me some candy, cake and pecans. The nurse told him that I couldn't have that stuff and he said, "I know she can't, I wanted to make her homesick so she would come out of this place, I need her at the farm!"

Clarence was the first person who, after I had done a day's work, would say, "I thank you." I asked him, "Thank me for what?" He said, "A good day's work." Clarence and I had some fun and wonderful times together, we were growing on each other fast.

Mr. Ludrell: I remember one Sunday, it was raining, a fellow came with a back pack and stopped and asked me if I knew where Clarence lived. I asked if he was any relation to him. He said, "No, he was on his way to the farm." The man then said he was just a farmer and he heard that Clarence would take in anyone. I brought him to the farm after breakfast and sure enough Clarence really did take him in, he accepted the stranger.

Mrs. Champion: Clarence told me one day, that he never met a stranger. He met a lot of friends.

Mr. Ludrell: If you are serving God, no one is a stranger to you.

Mrs. Champion: Ludrell, if you had to talk with people at the Farm now, what would you say or advise?

Mr. Ludrell One thing we need to do is: Get closer to God not only here at Koinonia, but the whole world has separated from the love of God. During the time Clarence was living, it didn't make any difference what color you were, your were just a human being to him.

Mrs. Champion: That's one thing I found in Koinonia people, while working with them at Koinonia. I just loved them so, they trusted me so nice. People like the Zooks, Mosleys, Fullers and Ladon Sheats, they didn't make an exception in no one. They would visit me all the time. But now, I don't know. I told my family one day, (when all the kids moved out) and if Mr. Doc dies first, if that happen, I would move to Koinonia. That's how I felt. I fell in love with Clarence's family, we had some nice times. Before my retirement I said I would not get closer to anyone else at the Farm, because they would come and up and leave and that would be heart breaking, but I became close to the Theuers and the Worths.

Mr. Ludrell: That's the hard thing about dealing with Koinonia, you become close to the people and all of a sudden, they are gone. Then you have a new bunch to deal with.

Mrs. Champion: The last two people I worked with was George T and George Worth and those were two people I learned to love. George Worth was my boss, but he didn't like for me to call him that. But I called him that anyway. He said he didn't want to be anyone's boss, but I would tell him, "But you are mine!" George had the idea that everyone was their own boss.

Mr. Ludrell: Coffee was the type of person who would come to visit, sit and eat with me just like she was at her own house. She would say how I was a wonderful cook.

(Mrs. Champion thanked Mr. Ludrell for taking the time to talk with her and bring back memories.)

NEXT CHAPTER >> (Coming Soon!)