One of my all-time favorite pastors is the Rev. Joe McCoy. He was my pastor at the First Baptist Church of Maynardville for eight years. I was an undergraduate college student when he first became my pastor, and an elementary teacher at Luttrell Elementary when he was called to other ministry.
I remember many of the illustrations Preacher Joe included in his sermons. He once talked of a situation in which the family of a deceased individual were not “church people”. In such circumstances, the funeral home would contact the local pastor to bring the eulogy at the funeral.
Brother Joe was thus once engaged to officiate. He said a member of the family took him aside, and said, “Now, Preacher, we know they’s things you’ve got to do, and you hurry and get them done as quick as you can, so we can get back home to the bottle.”
Preacher Joe said his mouth fell open, and he looked at that individual and said, “They! God help you people!” He said he preached “hell fire” to “them people” for about forty-five minutes. I can only imagine that the tremoring family rushed home as quickly as possible to douse the brimstone with as much spirituous liquor as possible.
I thought of Preacher Joe last week when I was visiting my relatives in Cincinnati. My nephew told me of a funeral home in Columbus, Ohio that had applied for a liquor license. You can verify this at the following site: https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/funeral-home-applies-liquor-license-… (Retrieved January 8, 2025).
Why would a funeral home possibly need a liquor license? Reasons propounded in the article include making “venues more personable to family and friends of the deceased” and easing the process of conducting a celebration of the life of the deceased.
While this particular application for a funeral home liquor license made national news, the article points out that liquor licenses have previously been granted in three other Ohio funeral homes and in at least one other state.
I remember reading of earlier days when it was customary when someone died to have a “wake” or “watch” over the body. This usually occurred in earlier times when it was customary for friends and family members of a deceased person to watch over the body through the nights between the death and burial, usually at the home of the deceased. This served as a way of “paying respects” and consoling the family. I also seem to remember that a wake in ancient times served to provide guards to protect the body from evil spirits that might try to steal the soul of the deceased. Also, I seem to have read that it was common belief that the soul of the deceased would hover around the body that it had inhabited in life for three days, so members of a wake were in effect providing comforting presence to a soul in transition from this world to the next.
Having a liquor license for a funeral home could possibly give new significance to a wake! Had the funeral home at which Preacher Joe kept the congregation “captive” for forty-five minutes had a liquor license, he probably could have lengthened his eulogy to hours with no grumbles from either the deceased or survivors. Though the wake might have lasted throughout the night, what would have been remembered the next day?

ANSWER TO QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 45
What is older than its mother? (ANSWER: Vinegar)

QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 46
What is the problem with political jokes? (See next week’s article in historicunioncounty.com for the answer.)