We all are blank slates when we arrive on this earth. It’s what we do in our lifetime that counts.

Allen C. Church’s roots were in the Poga Community, where he spent his entire life except for two years that he served in the U.S. Navy during the 1950s. Allen died August 14 at the age of 90.

He was a farmer and school bus driver. That’s how he made his living, but there was much more to the man than his life’s work. Almost everyone who came in contact with Allen Church came away with the same thoughts — humble, kind, gentle, and long-suffering. Yes, Allen Church possessed all these traits and much more.

For 30 years or more, Allen drove a school bus for the Carter County School System in the Poga, Elk Mills and Little Milligan Communities. He delivered school children to and from Little Milligan School and Hampton High School. His wife, Margery, worked as an aide for many years at Little Milligan School. “They were both salt-of-the-earth people, just good Godly people, who were good not only to the kids, but everyone they came in contact with,” said J.R. Campbell, Principal at Little Milligan Elementary School.

“In all the years that I knew him, when I was a student and later as an educator, I never knew Mr. Church to raise his voice. He was very mild-mannered. The kids respected him, and he did a great service to our school and was a credit to our community,” Campbell added.

Church lived on the Tennessee-North Carolina line in Poga at his family’s homeplace. He was the youngest of nine children and the last surviving one. He and Margery had four children, two of whom died as infants. A son, Michael, lives in Johnson City, and a daughter, Sherry, in Wilmington, N.C.

At the time of his death, Allen and Margery had been married 66 years. She, too, is 90 years old. According to Michael, his father was taking care of his parents, both of whom had health problems, when he went to Margery’s home to inquire if she would come and help with his mother, who had suffered a stroke. Margery agreed to do so, and after a two-year courtship, she agreed to become Allen’s wife.

“My dad loved to farm. For many years he raised tobacco as well as beans for the bean market in Mountain City. He also grew a vegetable garden and enjoyed hunting ginseng. In his spare time he liked to hunt and fish and in later years went on hiking trips with Michael.”

His pastor, Dennis Church at Beech Mountain Baptist Church, recalls Allen prided himself on growing vegetables, especially tomatoes. “He always grew some big tomatoes,” said Pastor Church.

“Allen was an A-1 person. He was faithful to the church, and had served as both a deacon and church clerk. The church was an important part of Allen’s life. As a Christian, deacon, school bus driver, Allen Church impacted a lot of lives. He was among the kindest and most giving people I’ve ever known and I was proud to have him as a friend and to have been his pastor,” said the preacher.

Many residents of the Little Milligan Community, who rode Church’s school bus, became life-long friends with him. “He was a mentor to many of the students,” said the secretary at Little Milligan School.

In addition to farming and driving a school bus, Allen was also a good handyman. His son recalls that Allen was an apprentice electrician and helped wire many of the homes in the Poga area when electricity came to the area. “He could learn and do about anything,” said Michael.

“He was a good daddy to me and my sister. What I remember about him was his patience, the hard worker that he was, and his kindness and love. He taught us what was right and encouraged us to work at what suited us. He was good to my mother and to everyone he came in contact with. I never ever seen him lose his temper,” said Michael.

Allen Church lived right on the state line. “I’m just glad he wasn’t born a few feet over in North Carolina. We could not have called him our own,” said Campbell.

Allen Church’s slate may have been empty when he came into this world, but he had packed a lot of living in his 90 years, and when he died, his slate was full of accounts of good deeds and kind words attributed to him by former students, neighbors, and friends.

“He showed us how to live,” said Pastor Dennis Church.