The White Coat

On June 17, 1955, Gerald Wilton Herring married Wynema Sue Hudson at the First Baptist Church of Winfield, Alabama. There is a wedding picture of the newly married couple at the altar with Brother Hargraves. Sue looks radiant holding a bouquet of flowers. Gerald looks shy and bewildered standing there in a pure white coat.

We found out later that the coat was purchased for the wedding. Some years later the white coat came to Fred Hudson, Gerald’s brother-in-law, who grew up in Winfield. The newlyweds settled in Russellville, Alabama, Gerald’s home town.

Fred remembers wearing the white coat Easter Sunday, 1964, at the same FBC of Winfield. Those of you old enough might remember young men wearing white coats to church in those days. Even white coats with white shoes and a white belt to boot. In those wonderful days, the young men looked quite sharp in their white.

The church was packed in those days on Easter Sunday when you would see people you would see only once a year in church. Everybody showed up on Easter Sunday.

The pastor’s sermon title was “The Miracle You Must Believe.” Nothing has changed since 1964.

The last time Fred remembers wearing the white coat was when his Uncle Bryan Hankins passed away a couple of years later. There he was wearing a white coat to a funeral. He was a pallbearer and the thought crossed Fred’s mind that it might not be appropriate to wear a white coat at a funeral, but if the truth be known, it was the only coat he had to wear. His first real suit came later when his Mother bought his first suit in Winfield for $27.00. It was a black suit that picked every piece of lint within a 5-mile radius. Fred was glad when the day came that he didn’t have to wear it anymore.

Fred gets the white coat out of his closet every Easter and looks at it, remembering its heritage. It doesn’t fit anymore (he couldn’t button the buttons with his current gut) else he would be tempted to drive to Winfield and wear it at his old church even though he knows people would be looking at him, laughing, wondering who this clown was. Once his family was in Winfield Easter Sunday 1996 and he wanted his son Freddy to wear the white coat to the FBC of Winfield, but wife Moyna said NO. He would look dorky she said, and she was probably right.

The time has passed for young men to wear white coats to church. But some of us remember. As an aside, some of us remember when the ladies wore elaborate hats. You don’t see that anymore either. When Fred was growing up, women wore hats to church, all the more elaborate for Easter. No more, and that’s too bad because you should wear your best to church.

White coats. White shoes. Ladies in elaborate hats. Such memories of Easter.