Saturday, June 27, 1998

History buff becomes 'historical moment'

By LORETTA FULTON / Abilene Reporter-News

It takes a good-humored person to laugh at being named an official "historical moment."

Dr. Darris L. Egger is laughing. Each year the Northwest Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church sets aside time for an "historical moment" during its conference, usually focusing on an institution or recounting an event of importance in the history of the conference.

"Without my knowing it, the Archives and History Commission voted to make me an historical moment," Egger said. "I was very embarrassed."

But pleased.

Egger, a longtime United Methodist pastor, district superintendent and church historian, has served as the conference historian for seven years.

A 1942 graduate of McMurry University, Egger served as a district superintendent twice and was chairman of the cabinet under two bishops in addition to serving as pastor of churches in 11 communities from Abilene to the Panhandle.

A history major at McMurry, Egger felt called to the ministry and earned a degree from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.

Although his love of history continued, Egger devoted his life to the ministry until retiring in 1987.

"I didn't do anything with it until I retired," he said.

But since then, Egger has written four books, including two about Methodist ministers who are buried in the Abilene District, a history of Camp Butman in the western part of Taylor County, and a history of St. Paul UMC in Abilene.

Egger's own history is quite interesting, and it fell to his wife Helen to write it for presentation during the "historical moment."

"There was one place I was interrupted by long and loud laughter," she said.

That came when Helen recounted her husband's meeting with the Ministerial Qualifications Committee when he was seeking his first position in 1942. After the meeting in Sweetwater, in which the committee grilled the young McMurry graduate on his qualifications, Egger left feeling satisfied with his answers.

He wasn't so sure, however, when in the dead of night a knock came on the hotel room door and he was summoned back to the church to face the committee again.

Egger walked into the room through a haze of smoke, watched the commission chairman Rev. Sam Thomas slowly remove a cigar from between his teeth and solemnly tell the very nervous young man, "We overlooked asking you one question: Will you abstain from the use of tobacco?"

Overlooking the obvious, Egger agreed, and the rest is history. In fact, the rest is a lot of history.

Not only is Egger the church conference historian, he also is vice president of the Texas United Methodist Historical Society, and is a member of the Taylor County Historical Commission and the Archives and History Commission of the Northwest Texas Annual Conference.

As Helen noted in her remarks at the conference, 1942 "was a very good year" for Darris Egger. Not only did he graduate from McMurry where he was named to the national <I>Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities,<I> he also married Helen Joy Davis of Okmulgee, Okla.

The two had met at a church camp in Fayetteville, Ark. After the couple married, Helen vowed that she would live on the plains, but that she would never learn to like it.

"I was so wrong," she said. "I wouldn't live anywhere else now."

The future for Darris Egger, understandbly, includes the past. He plans to write his memoirs for his sons and perhaps do a pictorial history of the churches he has served.

"I've got ideas, but I'm not sure I'll ever get around to them," he said.

For now, Egger is content making his status as an "historical moment" last as long as possible.