Pete Geiger on father & son Billingtons

Pete Geiger, during his time in the Beacon Journal newsroom, probably knew the powerful religion leaders of the Akron area better than any other reporters. Pete was religion writer for a good while, but he did more than just provide listings of church events. He got into the heart and, appropriately, soul of the situation.

When Dr. Charles Franklin Billington, son of the Akron Baptist Temple's enormously successful, if you go by attendance numbers, Dr. Dallas Billington, died July 31, I asked Pete, who lives in St. Augustine, Florida, with wife Sandy, for his recollections of the pair. Here is his email:

John,

Thanks for the invite.

Trouble is, I knew Chuck Billington best at the time when he dwelt in his father's big (physical and psychological) shadow. That was before he took over the pulpit. The old man was what used to be called a jack-leg preacher, lacking formal seminary education or ordination. But Dallas Billington (the elder) made up abundantly in charisma and obsessiveness; no one could contradict him, not even -- as it turned out -- (BJ publisher) Ben Maidenburg (but that's another story).

So when Chuck took over at the Karnival in Kenmore that was Akron Baptist Temple at the time, he was faced with several dilemmas. Perhaps most important was the foregone conclusion that he would do so. He had to contend with being a pastor rather than a flying missionary. He was always a good preacher, but a pastor needs glad-hander skills that Chuck didn't have in abundance; at least never to the degree that the old man did.

Second was the need to re-build the two-year-old sanctuary that burned down. The insurance didn't fully cover the loss, he told me, so he had to launch a second fund drive with a congregation that had already emptied its pockets for the previous building.

Third, perhaps, was to morph what had been "America's largest Sunday School" into a true worshipping congregation. The SS phenomenon is a bit hard to understand for most church-goers for whom Sunday School is an adjunct. But the independent Bible Baptist movement, of which ABT was a part, was always big on Sunday School, sometime much more so than traditional church worship.

That fit old Dallas' style well. He was a tire-builder up from the hills and hollers of Kentucky who started a Sunday School in Reimer Elementary School's building on Manchester Road, just south of the present church. Thousands would hop on ABT's fleet of buses and ride to Sunday School each week, then hop back on and ride home, skipping church.

All these and many other burdens fell on the shoulders of a preacher's kid who was brainier than his old man, more adept and -- perhaps typically -- a bit of a rebel. He used to chase around Akron in an Oldsmobile with one of the original FuzzBusters on the dashboard. Wasn't that a scofflaw gesture, I asked him. He replied that he loved to drive fast and often had to in order to meet his hectic schedule but, as Dallas Billington's son, he couldn't afford to get a ticket. He got some, anyway, despite the fact that he had cops in his congregation.

To his credit, he never fell into his dad's habit of holding a grudge. Old Dallas, for example, never forgave Rex Humbard for invading what he considered his stake. On one occasion, the Akron Youth Action Committee, a group of black kids, persuaded my wife, Sandy, to go with one of their number as an inter-racial couple to church at ABT to see how they would be received. As it turned out, of course, the two entered a sparsely-populated sanctuary. They should have gone for Sunday School.

Dallas thought he perceived my hand in the exercise and berated me for it; Charles told me privately that he thought it was a worthwhile thing to do.

"It was a good challenge for our people," he said.

I liked both father and son: the old man because of his garrulous, hard-charging style and the son because he genuinely seemed interested in befriending me. I'm sorry he ended his life with Alzheimer's (as did my dad) and I'm sorry he's gone. Akron is the poorer for his passing.

-- Pete

Click on headline to read the BJ report on the death of Dr. Charles Billington Sr. His father and son both are named Dallas Billington.