Jacob Bembry's Blog, page 2
February 15, 2015
Sunday Morning Hymn
Outside, the choir of crows and mockingbirds begins a hymn. Somewhere in the distance, a bullfrog provides the bass line as crickets carry the rhythm and an unknown bird hits the shrill high note. The sounds join together in perfect harmony on Sunday morning to sing a song of praise to their Maker, who provides for each of them..
Soon, the hymn beating perfect time with nature will be interrupted by a cacophony of other sounds:
Feet hitting the floor as people roll out of bed.
Coffee percolating.
Eggs and bacon frying.
Showers.
People scurrying to find their Sunday clothes.
Doors closing as people hurry out to go to Sunday School and church to sing their own Sunday morning hymns on Sunday morning.
Books I have available for purchase
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Church Hymnal (Hardcover)
By (author): Pathway Press
The familiar "red-back" Church Hymnal has been filling Christian churches with song since 1951. It includes songs for soloists, quartets, trios, youth choirs, church choirs and mass choirs. This shaped-note hymnal is one of the best-loved hymnals of the church. Included are songs like "Amazing Grace," "At the Cross," "When Our Lord Shall Come Again," "I Never Shall Forget the Day," "Our Lord's Return to Earth," and many more. A topical index is included to make it easy to find songs for special occasions. Originally published by the Tennessee Printing Company, which is now Pathway Press.
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February 14, 2015
Exchange 50 Shades of Grey For 50 Shades of Pray
Image courtesy of George Hodan, publicdomainpictures.net
O kind and gracious Heavenly Father, Creator of everything good, including love, which we celebrate on this special day as we should every day of the year. Today, we pray a special prayer that people will know true love. Father, we pray that, in today’s twisted culture, that people will come to know what true love is. We pray that men will treat their wives and girlfriends with respect and that husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 3:25). We pray that women expect to be treated like ladies and not allow themselves to be manipulated or abused physically or sexually. We pray that people will exchange 50 Shades of Grey and replace it with 50 Shades of Pray and pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17) We pray that everyone “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Ephesians 4:2) We pray that those without someone to love find someone they can truly love and respect and be truly loved and respected by, instead of finding one night stands. We pray that everyone remembers and lives by the words of 1 Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Father, we thank You that You send us complete love when you sent your only begotten son to die for us on the Cross at Calvary. We thank you that He conquered death and sin when He arose from the grave on the third day. We thank you that Your Word says: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:11) Once again, we thank You for this day and every day of love and we pray this in the name of our Advocate, Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Books I have available for purchase
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Higher Call (Kindle Edition)
By (author): Jacob Bembry
"I did not see the light during my near death experience. Either I did not see it or I do not remember it," so begins Jacob Bembry's book "Higher Call." The book is a collection of columns and thoughts he has had, whether it be about the day that he clinically died and was brought back through the miracle working power of Christ, or a story about his mentally-challenged sister, Abbie, riding an elephant at the circus. The book is packed with Bembry's thoughts. Some are deep, some are challenging and some are funny. The theme woven through the columns is God's love towards us. There is something for everyone in the book. Meet Bembry, a graduate of Florida State University, is the editor of two weekly newspapers in Madison, Florida, and the caretaker for his sister, Abbie, his elderly father and his physically disabled brother, Danny.
Kindle Edition:
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February 13, 2015
A Prayer for the Lost, the Sick, the Anxious and the Impoverished
Photo courtesy of George Hodan, publicdomainpictures.net
O kind and gracious Heavenly Father, you tell us in Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,” so we bring our prayers and petitions before you and ask that you heal the sick and the depressed and remove anxiety from those who are worried. You tell us in 1 Peter 2:24 that by Jesus’ stripes were “were healed.” Father, we thank you for the healing of sick bodies, worried minds, grudges, disagreements, and poverty. We pray most of all for sinners who need to find comfort in your grace. In John 3:16 you tell us that You sent your only begotten Son and that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Thank you, Father, for your loving kindness, your longsuffering, and your patience with all of us. Our hearts break for those who are sick, those who are worried, and those who have no food to eat, or bills that they cannot pay. Father, forgive us for any sins we may have in our lives, whether by commission or omission. Father, we bring all these requests boldly, yet humbly, into your presence through our Advocate, Your Son, Jesus Christ, amen.
Books I have available for purchase
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Unresponsive: An Excerpt from Sudden Death: God’s Overtime
Read his own personal story of how Jacob Bembry went into sudden cardiac death at work, was revived by EMS and how he hovered near death in the hospital and read about the miracle from God that kept him here.
Note: On December 8, 2011, I went into cardiac arrest and suffered sudden cardiac death. I was clinically dead, according to my physicians and according to the paramedics. I did not see the “Light,” the glories of Heaven, or God while I was clinically “dead.” I feel that if I had I would still be there and would not, nor could I, come back. I wrote a book about the experience called “Sudden Death: God’s Overtime.” Below is an excerpt from the book which is available at a number of online book retailers or you can receive a signed copy by mailing $12 plus $3.99 shipping and handling to me at Jacob Bembry, P.O. Box 9334, Lee, FL 32059
Unresponsive.
The word hung in the air. My sister Debbie had uttered the word to my father when she had called from the hospital, asking him to get over there. I was unresponsive and in a coma.
From what I have been told, doctors were doing everything they could for me at that point but they did not see much hope that I would make it. Doctors had begun the Arctic Sun treatment on me. This is a procedure where they ice the body down in order to get the body temperature to drop. This helps preserve brain function in people who have gone into cardiac arrest.
My father, my two sisters and my brother, along with Pastor Retis Flowers and his wife, Janice, waited and prayed for me.
Texts had been sent out. Friends had posted it on their Facebook pages. Phone calls had been made. Prayers were going out from family members, friends and people I did not even know. They were the prayers of the faithful. God was listening and He was working.
My healing was not actually taking place in that hospital at that time. My healing had begun taking place in Jerusalem twenty centuries earlier as Roman soldiers began to lash Jesus. I have read in the Bible “By My stripes, you are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). I believe that. I believe those words were not spoken just for healing from my sins, but for healing for my body.
Just imagine: a king took those stripes for me. He took them for you also. If you had been the only person on Earth, who was guilty of sin, He would have gone to the Cross just for you. If you were the only person who would ever be sick, He would have taken the beating just for you. Do you think that any king or the President would take a beating and be nailed to a cross for anyone? I don’t but the King did it; not just any king but the King of Kings. He is the King that all other kings in the history of the world will have to bow to and He took the beating and was nailed to a Cross just for me. He was laid in a grave but three days later, he arose.
I began to rally, although it was slow at first.
View Sudden Death: God’s Overtime and other books I have available for purchase
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February 10, 2015
Biggest Mass Murder in American History at the Time
Check out my new Book Table for information on how to buy this book and others I have written.
Below is an excerpt from my book, “Crimes Seen: A Collection of True Life Murder Stories.” In the book, the chapter is titled, “Man’s Plan to Murder Mother Kills 43 Others.” You can order “Crimes Seen: A Collection of True Life Murder Mysteries” on Kindle or in paperback by going to Amazon or by sending $12.99 ($9 plus $3.99 shipping and handling) for a signed copy to Jacob Bembry, P.O. Box 9334, Lee, FL 32059.
There was a man who had a plan to kill his mother == and he succeeded. Not only did he kill her, he killed forty-three other people along with her.
As a four-engine United Air Lines jet left the airport in Denver, Colorado the evening of November 1, 1955, a fifty-five-year-old woman named Daisie E. King boarded the airplane. She did not know that a time bomb, made of twenty-five sticks of dynamite was in her luggage. The bomb had been placed there by her son, John Gilbert Graham, who had purchased flight insurance on her before she left on her trip to Anchorage, Alaska.
About ten minutes after the DC6 jet taxied down the runway and took off, it exploded in the airs over Longmont, Colorado, killing all forty-four passengers aboard. The passengers included men, women and children who hailed from fourteen different states.
Witnesses told of hearing two loud explosions from the airliner. Jake Heil, an area farmer, said that he and Mrs. Heil had thought the airplane was going to hit their house.
A man in Platteville, Colorado said he heard “sort of an explosion” and had seen a “big bright light.”
When the plane fell in a sugar beet field, thirty-two miles north of Denver, it broke into pieces. Two of the pieces cut holes four feet deep in the ground and had burned. The nose of the plane was found seven hundred feet north of the other debris from the plane. It was smashed but had not burned.
The bodies of the victims lay strewn on the ground. Rescue personnel who had shown up were not able to save anyone. They could only cover the scattered bodies with tarpaulin.
In addition to Daisie King, passengers on the ill-fated flight included:
*Lee H. Hall, who was serving as the pilot for the flight. Married to a stewardess and living in Seattle, Washington, Mr. Hall had been employed by United Air Lines for fifteen years.
*Jacqueline Hinds. The senior stewardess for the flight had boarded the airplane in Denver, Colorado. She had worked for United Air Lines for over four years and lived in Eugene, Oregon.
*Peggy Ann Petticord, the second stewardess on the flight. She had joined United Air Lines right out of college. She had only been working for the airline for ten months.
*Donald A. White. Serving as co-pilot for the flight, the twenty-sixyear-old had been flying for ten years and had worked at United Air Lines for four years. He was married and lived in Seattle, Washington.
*Samuel F. Arthur. The flight engineer for Flight 629, he lived in Seattle, Washington, where his wife Jane and his two children were waiting for him to return.
*Lela McClain. The oldest passenger on the plane, Mrs. McClain was returning from Glastonbury, Connecticut, where she had visited a step-son, to her home in Portland, Oregon.
*Jesse Sizemore. Serving in the United States Air Force as an airman second class, Sizemore was returning from leave in his hometown of Jenifer, Alabama. His destination was to an Air Force Base in Alaska.
*Jack and Sarah Dorey. Mr. Dorey was a factory inspector who was taking his wife on the first flight either had ever taken so they could visit a married son in Portland, Oregon.
*Herbert G. Robinson. Working as a marine engineer for Gibbs & Cox of New York, he was scheduled to inspect the repair of a ship in Portland, Oregon.
*James W. Purvis. A contractor from Tacoma, Washington, Purvis was returning from a meeting in Denver, Colorado.
*Harold B. Sanstead. Dr. Sanstead, a nutrition expert with the U.S. Public Health Service in Washington, D.C., he was flying to speak at Oregon State College in Corvallis, Oregon.
*Gurney Edwards. An attorney from Providence, Rhode Island, and trustee at Brown University, he was on a vacation with his wife.
*Elizabeth Edwards. With her husband, Gurney, she planned to visit her sister, who lived in Seattle, Washington. Later, they would go visit their son, who was on duty with the Navy at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
*Virgil Herman. The operator of a used-oil reclaiming service in Vancouver, Washington, Mr. Herman was returning from a trip to St. Louis, Missouri, which he had taken with his wife.
*Goldie Herman. Mrs. Herman had flown with her husband on the first vacation they had taken in years. She had gone to St. Louis, Missouri to visit her sister on the first flight she and her husband had ever taken.
*Elton B. Hickok. Mr. Hickok was the president of the Seattle, Washington chapter of Associated General Contractors. He was returning from an AGC meeting he had attended in Denver, Colorado.
*Helen Fitzpatrick and son, James Fitzpatrick II. The mother and her fourteen-month-old son were flying to join her husband, an Army officer who had been shipped to Okinawa the day after young James had been born.
*Bror H. Beckstrom. The owner of three electrical contracting firms in Seattle, Washington and Fairbanks, Alaska, Mr. Beckstrom was returning home with his wife after a trip to New Mexico.
*Irene Beckstrom. Mrs. Beckstrom and her husband were returning to Seattle, Washington, after visiting their son, Howard, who was stationed with the Army in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
*John P. Bomelyn. The supervisor of the county’s human society in Seattle, Washington, Mr. Bomelyn was returing home after a national convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
*Frank M. Brennan. A builder from Seattle, Washington and an officer with Associated General Contractors, Mr. Brennan was returing from an AGC convention in Denver, Colorado.
*Barbara J. Cruse. A vacationing United Air Lines stewardess. She boarded the plane in Denver, Colorado, where she was stationed. She planned to travel to Seattle, Washington to spend some time at her home there.
*Sally Ann Scofield. A vacationing United Air Lines stewardess who was to travel to Seattle, Washington to visit with fellow stewardess, Barbara J. Cruse. Miss Scofield was to be married in November to a United Air Lines pilot.
*F.E. “Jack” Ambrose. A sales agent for United Air Lines, Mr. Ambrose was returning home to Seattle, Washington after having investigated a job that the airline had offered him in Denver, Colorado.
*Stewart and Anne Morgan. The Chicago, Illinois couple was headed on a business trip for Mr. Morgan, a consulting engineer. in Vancouver, Washington.
*Alma Winsor. Mrs. Winsor, a housewife from Newfoundland, was bound for Tacoma, Washington, where she was to visit her daughter whose husband had contracted polio.
*Carl F. Deist. Mr. Deist was a regional Oldsmobile sales manager from Burlingame, California. He was traveling from a meeting in Denver, Colorado to another meeting in Portland, Oregon.
*James. E. Straud. An assistant general sales manager for Oldsmobile, Mr. Straud was from Okemos, Michigan. He was headed to Portland, Oregon, along with Carl F. Deist.
*Clarence Todd. Mr. Todd served as manager for the Associated General Contractors chapter in Tacoma, Washington. He was headed back from an AGC meeting in Denver, Colorado.
*Ralph W. Van Valin. Dr. Van Valin, a retired dentist from Newburg, Oregon, had been on a visit to his birthplace, Unionville, Pennsylvania.
*Minnie Van Valin. Mrs. Van Valin, a genealogist, had traveled to Uniondale, Pennsylvania with her husband. During the trip, she had taken a side triip to Washington, D.C. to check some records.
*Louise Bunch. The widow of a minister, Mrs. Bunch was returning to her home in Forest Grove, Oregon after she attended a church convention in Colorado.
*Thomas L. Crouch. The Wichita, Kansas carpenter’s apprentice was headed to Seattle, Washington to take a job with a construction firm.
*John P. Des Jardins. Mr. Des Jardins was on an inspection trip for a chain of department store beauty shops he served as general manager. He lived in Overland Park, Kansas.
*Brad and Carol Bynum. The Bynums were returning from a trip to Amarillo, Texas, where they had visited Brad’s parents to share with her the joy of Carol Bynum being pregnant.
*Marion B. Hobgood. An electrical engineer for Philco, Mr. Hobgood was en route from his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Portland, Oregon, where he was scheduled to oversee an installation.
*J.W. Jungels. The heating engineer from Aurora, Illinois was headed to Portland, Oregon to inspect a heating system his company had installed.
*Gerald G. Lipke. The division sales manager from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was flying with his wife to Portland, Oregon.
*Patricia Lipke. The wife of Gerald Lipke was flying for the first time in her life. The trip to Portland, Oregon was to visit her sister. The three Lipke children had stayed at home.
On November 13, 1955, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested and accused twenty-three-year-old John Gilbert Graham, a father of two small children, of sabotaging the plane his mother was a passenger on.
Newspaper accounts of the arrest said that Graham’s last known job was working at a drive-in his mother ran in Denver. They also noted that he had worked with dynamite while employed as a construction worker.
Graham, his wife and children, had been living in his mother’s house to help pay off over four thousand dollars ($4,000) for forty-two forged checks that he had written. He had been convicted on the forgery charges in November 1951. His mother had paid $2,500 in restitution for him. He was making monthly payments for the rest of the amount. At the time of his arrest for the bombing, he only owed $105 in restitution.
Graham would fight with his mother in public and there was a belief that he had been stealing money from the business.
In addition to the $37,500 flight insurance Graham had bought from an airport vending machine on his mother, he would inherit a fourth of his mother’s estate, estimated to be worth $150,000.
Seeing that Graham, who was also known as Jack Graham and Jack King, had signed his name as the beneficiary on flight insurance for his mother, the FBI called him in for questioning.
Graham seeemed eager to help authorities find the cause of the explosion that killed his mother and all others aboard. He did admit that he had a criminal past. When asked about Daisie’s luggage, he described it but maintained that she always packed for herself when she went on a trip. This trip would be to Alaska to see a married daughter.
FBI agents later interviewed Graham’s wife, Gloria. Gloria told them that her husband had bought a Christmas present for his mother, which he wrapped himself. She assumed that he had given the gift to his mother just before she had left on the trip. She told agents that she thought the gift was a set of hand tools. Gloria said that she had last seen the wrapped present on November 1.
When questioned by the FBI about the Christmas present, he said that he had never bought it because he could not find the tools he wanted to give her.
Graham gave the FBI permission to search the house and car. During the search, they found strands of wire matching wire found at the crash site. The search also yielded more insurance policies on the life of Daisie King. The policies listed John Gilbert Graham as the sole beneficiary. Unbeknownst to Graham, the policies were worthless because they had not been signed by his mother.
On November 13, 1955, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover announced that the charge against Graham would be for sabotage of a national defense facility or materials. Commercial airliners were supposed to be covered under the code for the law. Airliners may have been covered under this since they transported the U.S. mail. There was no specific crime on the books at the time making it against the law to blow up an airplane.
John Gilbert Graham signed a confession that he had planted the bomb in Daisy King’s luggage.
At the arraignment on November 14, 1955, he stood with his head bowed and could barely be heard when he answered the judge’s questions.
November 15, 1955 found John Gilbert Graham facing murder charges in the biggest mass murder in United States history at that time.
In an interview from his jail cell on November 17, 1955, “Jack” Graham said he had no memory of signing a confession to the bombing.
“I respect other people’s lives as much as my own,” he claimed.
On December 9, 1955, Graham was arraigned for the murder of the forty-four passengers on board Flight 629.
Graham immediately denied the confession that he had made to authorities. He said that he had only made the confession under duress because he had been bullied by the FBI into believing that his wife would be charged if he did not confess.
On April 16, 1956, jury selection began in the trial of Jack Graham for first degree murder. Cameras were allowed in the courtroom and the court had granted local TV stations the privilege of filming during the day for broadcast on later newscasts. A request to allow live coverage of the trial had been denied. If the request had been granted, it would have been the first federal murder case to be broadcast on live television. Graham, who had lost forty pounds during his incarceration, looked calm and relaxed as he sat chewing gum.
During the trial, the FBI brought dozens of expert witnesses, including those familiar with explosives and bomb making, crash analysts, scientists and law officers. Jack Graham’s attorneys could not put up much of a defense. Graham, himself, refused to testify in his own defense. The defense’s case only lasted two hours before they rested.
When the case was sent to the jury, they returned a verdict in the short span of one hour and twelve minutes. Graham appeared passive as the verdict was read. He still maintained his innocence after the reading.
The verdict carried with it an automatic death sentence.
Graham’s attorneys vowed to fight for an appeal. Graham said that he did not want an appeal but instead wanted to die.
On January 12, 1957, Jack Graham was set for execution in Colorado’s gas chamber. His twenty-two-year-old wife, Gloria, had visited him once during the week before both had decided the visits were too hard on each of them.
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February 9, 2015
Crows, Like Mockingbirds
A crow scavenges through a Walmart shopping cart that has been left empty, save for a few pieces of newspaper. Somewhere, his friends, maybe his family, are on someone’s farm, wreaking havoc with the crops. This crow, though, seems content to look for food among the rubbish from the store. I stand and watch the bird, which flies away when someone reaches and takes the handle of the cart.
Crows, like mockingbirds, are common in this part of Florida. When I was a boy, I used to sit outside my grandmother’s house in the sand in the midday sun. I would look up at the mockingbirds on the power lines overhead. Each one seemed to be calling my name, like my mother would, or my grandmother would. I would answer them back, asking “What?” They would only reply by calling by name again.
As years went by and I grew older, I paid less attention to the mockingbirds and even less to the common crow. I soon got where I never noticed any of the birds that fluttered about, except for the occasional cardinal or the nasty buzzard, or a rare glimpse at a majestic eagle soaring through the air. One day, as I was driving, as I approached the railroad track in my hometown, I noticed a spot-breasted oriole. The hues of his orange color blazed against the green plants that it was flying near.
I wonder if God ever sends orioles and cardinals or blue jays flying in our paths so that we will notice them and glorify these beautiful winged creatures He created. Sometimes, God sends beautiful people in all forms into our lives to make us notice and glorify Him. Maybe the person is an autistic child, who does not talk, but has a brilliant smile. Maybe it’s the smart kid in class who knows all the answers on all the tests but is socially awkward. Maybe it’s the shy girl who’s always the wallflower at the dance. It could be the smart-mouthed kid whose sarcasm makes you want to hit them but you find yourself laughing with them. Or, it could be the elderly grandfather who is bent and tired that you help by opening the door outside the post office.
Beautiful people.
Beautiful wings.
Beautiful smiles.
Beautiful flights.
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February 6, 2015
The Black Sea Deals With Child Sex Trafficking
Elm Bryant, author of “The Black Sea.”
Elm Bryant has written a stunning book, entitled The Black Sea. It is the first book in the Dunham Saga she is working on and I can hardly wait to read the sequel.
The historical Christian novel is set in 1850 and the heroine in the book is a wealthy heiress named Josephine Hamilton, whose mission in life is to rescue girls from child sex trafficking. Enter the evil villain, Byron Drake, who grabs girls from the Boston Harbor as they disembark from the ships, which bring them from Ireland, penniless and hungry. Drake forces them into a life of prostitution and abuse. He casts them into “the Black Sea,” as the slums of Boston have been named at that time.
Drake’s girls begin disappearing one by one, and he must find them.
At twenty-six years old, Josephine has pretty much given up hope that she will ever find true love. Her father makes a business arrangement with a royal English business partner that ends in her marriage to his son, William Dunham, although he had been intending to marry Elisabeth Beech, a poor girl with whom he was very enamored.
William’s father has been losing money and the arranged marriage is the only way to get the family’s finances straight again. Josephine’s meticulous perusal of the Dunhams’ finances leads her to discover an evil person has been at work with the Dunhams’ books and stealing their money.
Will the newlywed Dunhams find true love?
Will Byron Drake find out who has been making the girls he has forced into prostitution disappear?
Will Elisabeth Beech be able to get her life together again after William Dunham marries Josephine?
Find these answers in the exciting, enthralling, action packed novel, The Black Sea.
I give this book five stars and am looking forward to reading the sequel, as well as other exciting books by Elm Bryant.
Read about Mrs. Bryant, her novel, her future projects, and her efforts to stop human trafficking, particularly among children and women, at her website
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February 5, 2015
Review of My Book “Higher Call: God Has More Work for Us to Do”
If you need to be inspired today, read this book of thoughts from an author who was clinically dead after suffering cardiac arrest but was healed by the miracle working power of God. Also available in Kindle from Amazon.com.
From a review of my book “Higher Call: God Has More Work for Us to Do” at Amazon The review was written by Valerie Caraotta, a Top 1000 Amazon reviewer. You can read more of her reviews here
“This book Higher Call lives out its name and author Jacob Bembry, you will discover, lives a selfless life of servanthood. There are different 1 page stories that will ultimately point you to Christ and His goodness toward you. Bembry uses his family in many stories and the warmth of the bond that has been established will enlighten your heart.
“Today the author takes care of a mentally challenged sister and a dad and brother that have physical challenges. His near death heart attack has not stopped the fire within him from reaching out to a multitude of individuals.
“Though Physicans gave Bembry little hope for a quality life following his attack, he lives today as a testament that God has further plans for his life. A writer by profession, this book includes many of the stories written over a period of time that has the following:
-a tribute to his mother
-exhortations to give your heart fully to the Lord
-proper balance between work and worship
-looking to the Word for guidance
“Great analogies are used from everyday life to point to God’s love, concern, and saving grace.
“Overall, it will tune your attention more fully to how you are leading your life and the value of calling upon Christ daily. It is not deep theology but necessary practical application for everyday living.”
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February 3, 2015
Crimson Tide Football Player Killed
Below is an excerpt from my book “Crimes Seen: A Collection of True Life Murder Stories.” In the book, this story was titled “Crimson Tide Football Player Killed by Gunshot Wound.” You can order “Crimes Seen: A Collection of True Life Murder Mysteries” on Kindle or in paperback by going to Amazonor by ordering from one of the other fine online retailers by going to the books I have for sale or by sending $12.99 ($9 plus $3.99 shipping and handling) for a signed copy to Jacob Bembry, P.O. Box 9334, Lee, FL 32059.
In 1972, the future seemed bright for Bobby Alvin Duke, Jr. He had just graduated from Huffman High School in Birmingham, Alabama. The fall football season for the young Duke had found him being named to the Alabama All-State team at halfback. He had gained over one thousand (1,000) yards his past two years of prep football and had averaged over five yards per carry.
The legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant was Bobby Duke’s head coach at Alabama.
Paul “Bear” Bryant, legendary coach of the University of Alabama came calling for Bobby Duke, Jr. The young Duke leaped at the chance to follow in the footsteps of his father as a member of the Crimson Tide. In 1950, Bobby Duke, Sr. had been an All-American at ‘Bama.
Two years later, Bobby Duke, Jr. was dead.
On Monday, July 29, 1974, Duke, Jr. left his parents’ home in Birmingham and went to Huffman High School to run. He had missed all of his 1973 freshman season due to a nagging shoulder injury. Coach Bryant would say later that they had been working Bobby slowly during the spring of 1973, hoping that he would be able to play for the Tide.
At the time Bobby left his home, he was driving his father’s 1973 Monte Carlo, which had a shotgun in it. He was wearing a tee-shirt and gym shorts and, it was believed, he did not carry money.
Witnesses reported that they saw Bobby Duke, Jr. leave Huffman High School. Others said they had seen the Monte Carlo at the intersection of Tarrant-Pinson Highway and Lawson Road at approximately 3:40 p.m. on July 29, 1974.
Law officers began to suspect foul play when Bobby was reported missing that evening after failing to show up for his workout at Huffman High. Alabama State Troopers began searching frantically for the missing car.
On Friday night, August 2, 1974, they spotted the car in Selma, Alabama. After they pulled it over, the male driving it fled on foot into the Selma business district and then, apparently, to a wooded area. Fifty officers began a search for the suspect. Bloodhounds were brought in to assist in the search. The suspect eluded them that evening.
On Saturday, August 3, at about 2:50 p.m., Alabama State Trooper Kenneth Brown found a body believed to be that Bobby Duke, Jr. He was clad in University of Alabama gym shorts. The body was found about fifteen feet from a trail going through a wooded area in north Birmingham. The area had been where several robbery and kidnap victims had been taken during a short span of time before Bobby’s murder.
A friend of the Duke family went to the scene but he could not positively identify the body as Bobby Duke, Jr.
The body was taken to Mercy Hospital in Birmingham, where an autopsy was performed. Dental records confirmed that it was Bobby’s body. The cause of death was a blast to the abdomen from a gun.
On Monday, August 5, Birmingham Police Chief James Parsons said that robbery was the motive in the slaying of Bobby Duke, Jr.
Later that day, Eugene Bizell Pendleton, Jr., who had been scheduled in juvenile court on a robbery charge, turned himself over to authorities. He was accompanied by his parents and an attorney. Pendleton surrendered himself the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office after a warrant was sworn out.
Parsons said the killers had planned to use Duke’s car to commit a robbery.
Law enforcement continued searching for the man who had fled from the 1973 Monte Carlo. They discovered that he was thirty-five-year-old Hayes Joseph Tooson, of Birmingham. A warrant was issued for his arrest.
On Thursday, August 8, Tooson surrendered to authorities and, along with Pendleton, was charged with first degree murder.
During his trial, Tooson maintained that he had never even seen Bobby Duke in his life and that he had nothing to do with the slaying. He claimed he had given twenty-five dollars to a man who told him the car was “hot” (meaning stolen.) Tooson said the man who had given him the car said he needed the money to buy drugs.
Testimony was giving during the trial that Tooson and Pendleton had been hitchhiking in the area with plans to rob someone. Tooson surprised Pendleton when he shot Bobby Duke, Jr.
On Thursday evening, November 14, 1974, Tooson was sentenced to life in prison. After the verdict was read, he appeared calm, but members of his family broke out shouting. One of his sisters fainted. Order was restored by the extra law officers who had been assigned to the courtroom.
In September 1978, Toosen was murdered in prison by fellow inmate Roosevelt F. Youngblood. Youngblood was charged with capital murder.
Youngblood pleaded guilty five years later as part of a plea bargain and was sentenced to an extra twenty years in prison.
Pendleton was sentenced to twenty years in prison on second degree murder charges. He was released in 1992. After his release, he became an addictions treatment counselor at a women’s prison in Oklahoma. He was arrested in 2002 and charged with second degree rape for having sex with an inmate.
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February 1, 2015
Super Bowl Is Not Family Friendly
Take a great game, but then throw in a bunch of questionable commercials, when kids are watching, and a fight between spoiled rich guys who are old enough to know better, and who are looked up to by kids, and it is ruined. Add to that what may be the stupidest play ever called in a Super Bowl when Seattle decided to pass the ball when a hand-off to star running back, Marshawn Lynch, would have worked better.
There are so many sad days happening in America right now and it’s sad when pro football, with all of its so-called superstars, adds to the sadness. The Super Bowl is not family friendly anymore. I remember the days of Up with People performing at halftime. Some may find them hokey and maybe they were but at least it was SAFE for kids to watch.
We need our athletes — pro, college, and even high school and middle school — to step up and show people looking up to them what true role models should be. If they need an example themselves, they should look to the greatest role model of all time, Jesus Christ.
On a happier note, the church I attend took up its Super Bowl offering for the denomination’s youth ranch in Ocala. The ranch takes in young men who have problems and need to get adjusted to life again.
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