Be prepared for some Father’s Day time-traveling Sunday morning at Kingwood Presbyterian Church.
At 10 a.m., the Rev. Fletcher Golden, he of the stentorian voice and impressive chin-whiskers, will amble down from the pulpit to personally greet the congregation.
He’ll have some catching up to do, as he died in 1890.
“Good morning and God’s blessings,” he’ll say.
“The Rev. Meighen — thanks for inviting me, D.D. — has been filling me in on some things since I’ve been off this mortal coil,” he’ll continue.
“We’ll talk about that. First, though, I want to wish all the dads in attendance a Happy Father’s Day.”
Which is a pretty significant wish, said the present-day clergyman who is Golden’s wingman in the endeavor.
“Of course, he’s going to say that,” the aforementioned D.D. Meighen explains. “He inspired the holiday.”
And you can quote him on that.
A mine disaster — a daughter’s love
Meighen, a retired pastor from Fairmont who currently serves as interim minister of WVU’s Presbyterian Student Fellowship, has been portraying Golden in earnest for Father’s Day since 2003.
Sunday’s stint at Kingwood Presbyterian for the 2022 observance is one more round.
It’s a combination one-man show and sermonizing event, said Meighen, who talks and interprets the life and times of a minister who saw fierce fighting as a young soldier in the Civil War and lost his spiritual path as a result — only to regain it later in life.
Golden pastored for years at churches in Meighen’s neighborhood of Marion County.
His daughter, Grace Golden Clayton, grew up in Meighen’s hometown of Fairmont, which is how and where Father’s Day came to be.
It took a mine disaster to set the gears moving toward an official day for fathers.
Dec. 6, 1907: An explosion tore through a mine in Monongah, northern Marion County, killing perhaps as many as 500 — since many of the fatalities were young boys and teenagers, doing men’s work underground.
Grace Clayton, who lost a child in infancy, was shaken by the double loss of the above, she said, as the victims had been robbed first of their childhoods, then their lives, in the maw of ruined mine.
Another 210 who perished were married men who were also fathers.
The slow-motion tragedy of 1,000 children, or more, left to mourn, moved her beyond words.
She wanted to sanctify the moment, so she pushed for a church service honoring fathers, as a way to comfort the children and widows of Monongah.
That’s exactly what happened on July 5, 1908, at what is now Central United Methodist Church on Third Street, in Fairmont. It was recognized as the nation’s first service for what would become Father’s Day 64 years later.
Why that date?
It was the closest to Fletcher Golden’s birthday, Meighen said. He was born July 8, 1826. Clayton wanted to honor her dad, too.
Preaching to the choir
Golden, meanwhile, remains a role model for Meighen, who is himself a father and grandfather.
As said, Golden was twice-wounded as a Civil War soldier.
Meighen speculates that he also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, given the close-quarter combat that dominated the fighting between North and South on the battlefields of a House Divided.
In the end, though, Golden was able to bring his house together. He was able to make peace with his battlefield wounds, seen and unseen.
As a young man, he literally fought for his life. As an older man, he lived for his family and his faith.
Which meant, Meighen said, it was always going to be Father’s Day for Fletcher Golden.
“He lived every day with a purpose. Every day.”
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