Preacher Spencer, a man among men

My grandfather on my mother's side was the Rev. James Edward Spencer, born in Knoxville on February 17th, 1910. He was second in line of 9 children. On March 16, 1929, he married Ms. Conilee Texas Ramsey (a descendant of Francis Alexander Ramsey) together they had 8 children.

In the 1930's and 40's, he would walk the railroad tracks to his job in downtown Knoxville at Alber’s drug company. He used to say that he was so poor and his shoes were so thin on the bottom that he could step on a dime and tell if it was heads or tails.

In 1941 in an attempt to "run from God's call for him to preach," he moved his family to the "country" on Edmundson Road in the Ritta community in Knox Co. Apparently God found him pretty quickly because just months later he was preaching. There was an old church building over on Murphy Road that belonged to the Methodists. Ed and Conilee cleaned it up and started having church services there on Sunday, February 1, 1942. They stayed there for four and a half months before the Methodists wanted their church back. They then organized Highland Baptist Church on July 5, 1942. He was the first deacon of that church and the first Sunday school superintendent.

He was ordained to preach on July 4, 1943 and he pastored Highland for five years. He then went to House Mountain Baptist Church for eighteen months and then back to Highland for three more years. In 1954 he founded North Acres Baptist Church and was pastor there for 19 years until his death in 1972. Sadly, a couple of years ago the church members voted to sell out the property and move further down the road to make room for retail development. The original site of North Acres Church was where the new East Knoxville Lowe's store is sitting now.

Preacher Ed Spencer was known all over Knoxville for his fiery and theatrical sermons, where he often could be seen climbing revival tent poles and church window seals to get his point across. He would hold large baptisms in the lakes, creeks, and rivers all around Knoxville, where hundreds would attend just to watch. He was a man among men. He used to take me with him to Mitchell's Barbershop. When we walked in the door, people sat up and took notice. Everyone loved my grandfather. They would hang on his every word. I was so proud of him and I would strut around telling everyone that my papaw was Preacher Spencer!

In 1972, preacher Spencer became sick. He began to lose weight and have night sweats. When the doctors finally diagnosed him with an enlarged spleen, it was too late. Upon doing surgery, the cancer had already invaded his lymph nodes and vital organs. He only lived three months and died on Sunday, December 17, 1972 at 62 years of age. My papaw Spencer would have been 97 years old this month. I miss him.