Salvation Came to Our House

Dorothy Orton May 2004

My maternal grandmother, Mary Susannah Harman1, widow of William, lived at number 17, Waterloo Road, South Yardley, Birmingham. Grandad William Harman2 had a long and distinguished career as an engine driver for the Great Western Railway. In retirement, he was given a part time maintenance job at Snow Hill Station. He lost his life as a result of spinal injuries sustained when he fell from a high ladder early one morning when no one was around to help him.

Grandma’s house was also home to my parents Leonard Dean3 and Annie (called Nancy) Perkins4 in the early years of their marriage. It was also the birthplace of my sister Margaret Winifred5 and my brother Frederick Leonard6. By the time of my own birth7 the Perkins family had moved to 95 Holder Road, South Yardley, Birmingham 25.

Nancy and Len met in Weymouth during the 1914-18 war. Nancy and her sister Nellie were there on holiday. Len was a soldier on leave from France. He served in the Royal Engineers and had long and harrowing experiences of trench warfare. Twice he was wounded. His neck was scarred from a liquid fire and gas attack. His helmet protected his face – but he claimed that his hair turned green! A courtship progressed by correspondence until the end of the war. They were married on 4th August 1920 at Yardley Parish Church.

My father’s parents8 lived in Peckham, South East London. They both lived to a good old age, despite the loss of both home and business in one weekend during a ‘doodle bomb’ raid in the blitz. Grandad was a commercial printer and was safely sheltered when his workshop was demolished. Grannie was eventually dug out of the ruins of her home in Bidwell Street. They were reunited in a local rescue centre and subsequently re-housed with two of my aunties in a cottage in Dorking, Surrey. They both longed for the city, however, and indeed ended their days in a London flat.

Grannie Harman died suddenly from a stroke when I was about three and a half years old. I do remember her and the many stories told to me by Mum, Margaret and Fred. The house in Waterloo Road was sold and the money shared between the eight Harman children, of whom my mother was the youngest.

It was Grannie who first attended the women’s meetings held on Monday afternoons at Waterloo Road Gospel Hall, now called Waterloo Chapel. My mother went regularly with her, taking with her in turn Margaret, Fred and later me in our respective infancy and pre-school years. I remember the basket of knitted toys provided for the use of the ‘little tots’. Attendance prizes were awarded to the women. My mother gained a first class prize most years, as had Grannie before her. Prizes were often framed with texts from the Bible and were beautifully illustrated. They adorned our living room and bedroom walls. My mother had a good knowledge of Bible texts, all from the Authorised Version in those days. I well remember pondering over “Now chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, it afterwards yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby”.9 All three of us children also knew many texts by heart.

Margaret and Fred attended Church Road School, South Yardley. Margaret completed infant, junior and senior schooling there. Fred had to transfer to Red Hill Junior School, Hay Mills, when catchment areas changed. From the age of 13 years, Fred attended Sparkhill Commercial School where he did well and showed a good aptitude for languages, especially Spanish. Both Margaret and Fred attended Sunday school at Waterloo Road and started earning prizes of their own. I was also enrolled at Sunday school when a rising four-year-old. We often ‘played’ Sunday school at home. We knew many Bible stories and lots of hymns from the Golden Bells hymn book.

Mum played the piano quite well. Dad had a good ear for music and played a mandolin, a one-string fiddle and various percussion instruments, even spoons! There was also a zither at home. It was Mum’s desire that we should learn the piano. None of us ever did and we always regretted it. We all enjoyed singing and had many happy hours around the piano. Fred had a good tenor voice, I have an alto range. Mum and Margaret would sing the air. Dad also loved singing.

Fred nearly died of diphtheria when he was about 6 or 7 years old. He was nursed at Little Bromwich Isolation Hospital (now the site of the large Heartlands Hospital), for nineteen weeks. No visitors were permitted for most of that time, though Mum and Dad could watch him through an observation window and could leave gifts for him. The psychological effects of such isolation must have been profound. A ‘Danger List’ was published daily at the local police station. For many weeks Fred’s name was on that list. The elders from the Gospel Hall visited our home. They knelt and prayed for Freddie that his life might be spared. I was very young, under two years at the time, but Mum and Margaret told me about it. My parents were very grateful for and impressed by the support from the Gospel Hall. Fred recovered; a thin, pale little boy who had to learn to talk again. Many children in our neighbourhood did not survive diphtheria. Schools were closed and child funerals were common.

Some years later both Margaret and I, though not together, fell victim to Scarlet Fever. Before antibiotics this was a serious disease. Fred had to lose time from school through Margaret’s illness and also later through mine. Contacts were excluded from school and all fomites had to be burned or disinfected. Cards for my 8th birthday had to be destroyed. A sheet soaked in Lysol was hung outside my bedroom door. I didn’t see Margaret and Fred for several weeks, though they talked to me from the other side of the door and crouched to listen to the records played on the small wind-up portable gramophone I had been given for my birthday. Both my ears were infected and treated by daily syringing and the installation of Hydrogen Peroxide drops. I was off school for seven weeks, five of them in bed!

Margaret became a Christian when she was about 13 or 14 years old. I once read from the fly leaf of her Bible “saved by Sovereign Grace” and a date. To my shame, because I didn’t understand, I tore out that fly leaf. Margaret used to read her verses and pray every day. Mum said I should leave her alone while she was doing this, but I often spied on her. Later Margaret was baptised at the Gospel Hall.

Fred made his decision to follow Christ when about 15 years old in a tent mission conducted by David Clifford, an evangelist who later became Principal of Moorlands Bible College. Fred was also baptised as a believer at Waterloo Road Gospel Hall.

My own decision to follow Jesus was made at the age of 11+ years. One Sunday at Junior Bible Class my teacher, Marjorie Beresford (née Watts), had taught about the promised return of the Lord Jesus for those who loved Him. This scared me more than Hitler’s bombs which were falling around us. When home, I knelt beside my bed, owned up to my sin and to my un-readiness for Christ’s return. I asked Jesus to save me and to make me ready to meet Him. The wonderful thrill of that day is with me still. Soon after this I was evacuated with my friend Betty Murray, and many other children, to the Rhondda Valley in South Wales. We had suffered badly as the result of the Coventry bombing; our houses had been without water, gas or electricity for over a week. Betty and I stuck together, refusing to be separated. Eventually, we were taken by Mrs Wilson to her terraced house in Ynysgau Street, Ystrad Rhondda, near Ton Pentre. I was away for six months, during which time my Bible was seldom opened. I prayed, as we all did, for survival, but my life as a new Christian did not develop. Marjorie Beresford wrote to me several times whilst I was away and was there to welcome me back when I got home.

Margaret worked as a cashier in ‘England’s’ shoe shop in the city, taking her turn with Marjorie and others at air raid fire watching at the Gospel Hall at night.

Fred volunteered for the Royal Navy before his eighteenth birthday. After training at Devonport he served on a North Sea minesweeper. This was a very difficult time for him, with rough uncouth seamen as companions and hardly any Christian fellowship. Later, he became a signalman (a “bunting tosser” as they were known) on a Corvette of the flower class HMS Saxifrage. I remember writing to him as Ord. Signalman F.L. Perkins DJX 340211. Fred’s service took him to the Mediterranean where he had hazardous, though spiritually significant, experiences. Often putting in at North African ports, he met missionaries and national believers. For a while he was shore based at Gibraltar where he was able to enjoy fellowship with other believers, including Fred King from Hodge Hill, Birmingham. It was a great joy to my parents when Fred King visited our home whilst on short leave, bringing up to date news of our Fred.

When on embarkation leave, Fred asked Dad if he would go with Mum to the gospel meeting at Waterloo Road some Sunday nights; Dad said he would. His word was his bond and he started attending regularly. He was impressed by the leaders who, like himself, were ordinary working men. My Dad was a bricklayer who had served a seven year apprenticeship in his trade from his youth and had furthered his knowledge and skills by correspondence courses with the Bennett College. His technical drawings were immaculate and he was also skilled in carpentry. Often, as General Foreman on building sites, he would take us at weekends to see some of the buildings he was responsible for. The score board as Warwickshire Cricket Ground, Edgbaston, was one of his projects.

Margaret married Richard (Dick) Silvester at the Gospel Hall in May 1942, when she was twenty and he was twenty-five years old. Then thirteen, I was one of Margaret’s bridesmaids and Paul Bodfish, Dick’s nephew, was her page boy. Earlier that month Paul, age five, and his younger brother Nigel, had lost their daddy, a pilot in the RAF. Alice, Dick’s sister, bore up bravely at the wedding, although grief- stricken over her husband Frank’s death. They were both twenty-seven years old. As I write, news of Alice’s death has reached me. She was eighty-nine years old. Dick also served in the RAF as mid-upper gunner on Halifax bombers. He was once reported missing, but happily survived when his skipper managed to ditch their badly crippled aircraft into the sea. Dick’s skipper was awarded the DFC.10

When about fifteen, I was beginning to understand that the Christian life was more than being saved from hell. A ‘Faith for the Times’ campaign had been conducted in Birmingham. The Rev. Alan Redpath, a gifted preacher and Bible teacher, had made clear the need for full commitment to Jesus Christ. I began to take steps in discipleship and prepared for baptism. It was still wartime. I had left school and worked in the general office of a company of electrical and mechanical engineers. I also went to night school three evenings a week to continue my education, often racing by bike or on foot after classes to be in time for the Bible study and prayer meeting. We had a good young people’s fellowship. I also took a Bible correspondence course with a Baptist minister, Pastor Boughen.

I needed my parents’ consent for baptism. My mother readily agreed. My father said “Well, if you think you’re good enough, you can do it”. I tried to explain that I was not, nor ever would be, ‘good enough’, but I wanted to declare my faith in the Lord Jesus who had died for me. Fred was still away, Dad was still attending gospel meetings and often stayed to ask questions afterwards. My parents attended my baptism. Six of us were baptised that night. Five of us were girls from Marjorie’s class, the other was a lady of seventy-nine who had come to Christ late in life. My father was deeply moved at the meeting. I think this was when he saw that salvation comes by faith, not by works11. The following Sunday evening, my dear Dad received Christ as his Saviour, tears of joy flowing down his cheeks. What joy! What news for Fred! What change at home!

Mum had been a quiet disciple for some time, though for many years she had lacked the assurance of her personal salvation. She told me that one day whilst walking home from the women’s meeting, she contrasted her own doubts about her eternal destiny with the confidence enjoyed by others she knew at Chapel. Why the difference? She recited to herself what she believed. Jesus is the Son of God, He died to save sinners, rose from the dead and ascended to His Father in heaven. She accepted the Bible as the Word of God. She knew many passages and texts by heart. One of those scriptures now vividly came to mind. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them who believed on His name”12. “Lord”, she prayed, “I have believed, but until now I have not received you into my life. This I now do with all my heart”. The assurance of her salvation flooded in and she was able to “confess with her mouth the Lord Jesus”13

As a young believer, the Lord gave me the promise made to the Philippian jailor, “Thou shalt be saved, and thine house”14. Less than a month after my father’s conversion, he and my mum were baptised as believers in the Lord Jesus at Waterloo Road Chapel. Dad became single hearted for the Lord. He had a big struggle with tobacco, having been a chain smoker from a boy! He rolled his own cigarettes from the potent ‘nosegay’ tobacco. Often I would be asked to fetch his tobacco from a shop near the Gospel Hall. I was so embarrassed! Eventually, my Dad was rid of his habit. Cigarettes and card playing went out, Bibles and Christian books came in! Aunties and uncles began to understand that no more whist drives would be held at home, because Len was off to the prayer meeting. Although getting on a bit, Dad started teaching at the Sunday school. He spent hours preparing his lessons. When the war was over, a street party was held in Holder Road. Neighbours asked my father to give thanks to God for victory and for the food we were to share. He and my mother were greatly respected. When my Dad died some years later in 1960, several neighbours came to his funeral and at least one we know of became a Christian soon afterwards.

My brother Fred made a promise to the Lord that, if he survived the war, he would give his life in service for Him. He had a deep love and concern for North Africa – especially for Muslim peoples. After demobilisation he returned briefly to GKN15, but his heart was not in secular business. He discussed his call to missionary service with the leaders at church and was commended by the assembly to follow his calling. He spent some time studying Arabic at the London School for Oriental and African Languages and also took a short medical course. Fred then went to France to learn and improve his French, earning his keep by working on a farm and living with a French family. Fred became a missionary in Algeria, serving with Echoes of Service. He first worked among the Kabyles and later for many years served with his wife Madge in Bordk-bou-Arrendje. Madge (Marjorie Hutchinson) was a young missionary nurse-midwife, serving with the North Africa Mission when she and Fred met. Her sending church was Bethesda Chapel, Sunderland.

Madge and Fred were married by the British Consul in Algiers prior to their Christian ceremony. Together they spent the best years of their lives in faithful work and witness among the Algerians whom they loved. Three sons were born to them, Andrew, Paul and Michael. The boys’ early years were spent with their parents in Algeria. Later, because of the Franco/Algerian war, Andrew and Paul came home as boarders at Kingsmead School, Hoylake in Cheshire. Michael followed his brothers in due course to Kingsmead and all three boys in turn gained entrance to Monkton Combe School in Bath. They are well able to continue their own history from that point onwards.

Madge and Fred returned to England after many years in Algeria. Madge hosted missionary families who were passing through London at the Finchley HQ of the Red Sea Mission Team. Fred worked until retirement with Scripture Gift Mission in London. They took a rented apartment in Finchley where happy years were spent. Their local church was Cholmeley Hall. Madge was called home to be with the Lord in September 1999. Fred, [at the time of writing] suffers from dementia and is being cared for at ‘The Meadows’ Methodist Home in Muswell Hill.16

I also felt called to Christian service, training as a nurse at Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham and later at the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow. When about 16 years old and taking part in an Open Air meeting at the ‘Swan’ Yardley, I noticed a boy whom I recognised as Edwin Orton. We had been through Red Hill Infant and Junior School together, often in the same class. Edwin lingered in a shop doorway that Sunday evening to listen to what was being said and later walked back to hear more. This was a significant event in his search for God. He too is well able to tell the rest of his story, and of ours! We were married at Waterloo Road Chapel on August 19th 1950. Dr Julian Hoyte conducted our marriage service.

My mother Nancy Perkins died from cancer at the home of Margaret and Dick in September 1962. It was my privilege to be with her when she passed into the Lord’s presence. Twice, during her last few hours of consciousness, she asked “Who is the young man?”

“Dick is here”, I said.

“Yes”, she answered, “I know Dick is here (He had carried her to bed that evening), “but who is the young man?” I believe the Lord sent an angelic escort for my Mum.

After almost sixty years of marriage, my dear sister Margaret was called home to be with the Lord on January 7th 2002. Her lovely daughters Gillian, Pauline, Christine and Janet and husbands and families miss her keenly. Her husband Dick went to be with the Lord in 2005, aged 88. He was a faithful and loyal member of his church at Digbeth in the Fields, Sheldon, Birmingham.

The Lord gave Edwin and me four wonderful children, David17, Esther18, Ian19 and Martyn20. Each of them trusted the Lord Jesus as Saviour while children and, by God’s grace, each of them confirmed this decision by being baptised at believers when of age to choose to do so. They are all happily married to Christian partners; David and Annette, Esther and Jeff Greaves, Ian and Helen and Martyn and Alison. All are involved in a variety of Christian ministries. Between them, they have presented us with fourteen delightful grandchildren21

Salvation did indeed come to our house as it did to the household of Zacchaeus22. My prayer is that all who read this, whether or not they are kith and kin, may make the same wonderful discovery that we made and the personal, life-changing experience of receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

Postscript, December 2016

This story is only the beginning of Dorothy Orton’s adventure. She did not write an autobiography; had she done so, it would have been quite a volume! She certainly lived out Jesus’ promise in John 10 v. 10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness”.

Dorothy not only provided a wonderful family and a loving home; she cared deeply for people. She worked extremely hard in every aspect of her life, never wanting to waste a moment or an opportunity. She had a long and successful career in nursing, midwifery, health visiting and lecturing. She loved learning new things and even obtained a BA degree later in life. She loved people, from her own neighbours and locality to the poorest of the poor in the slums of Kolkata. There is not space here to describe what she achieved or who she was. However, right to the very end, her greatest desire was always that others would be able to speak of the day when salvation came to their house. She longed that others would know the joy, peace and assurance that comes when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus and she wanted all the glory to go to Him.

Notes

1 Mary Susannah Harman 1855-1932 2 William Harman 1953 – 1919 3 Leonard Dean 1857 – 1967 4 Annie (Nancy) Perkins 1890 – 1962 5 Margaret Winifred Silvester (née Perkins) 1921 – 2002 6 Frederick Leonard Perkins 1923 – 2004 7 15th October 1928 8 Leonard J Dean and Laura Dean (Née Perkins) 9 Hebrews 12 v 11 10 Distinguished Flying Cross 11 Ephesians 2 v 8 – 9 12 John 1 v 11-12 13 Romans 10 v 9 14 Acts 16 v 31 15 Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds 16 Fred Perkins died in July 2004 17 David was born 23.05.1952 18 Esther was born 25.03.1955 19 Ian was born 11.12.1957 20 Martyn was born 22.10.1961 21 David & Annette – Joanne, Rachel, Miriam and Samantha Esther & Jeff – Sarah, Phillip and Mark Ian & Helen – James, Susannah, Ben and Carys Martyn & Alison – Daniel, Abigail and Jennifer 22 Luke 19 v 9