Mothers and daughters gathered at the Billy Graham Library Friday for day one of the Library’s two-day, annual Mother’s Day breakfast. Some traveled several hours to share special memories and retell life-changing stories.
3 States, 2 Surprises
“She kidnapped me and didn’t tell me where we were going.”
Isn’t that the way all Mother’s Day surprises should begin?
It was for Helen Wentz, 85, who on Friday got two surprises—a special trip to the Billy Graham Library and a guest appearance from her daughter in Tennessee.
“I was shocked. I gave her a swat on the bottom,” she said, laughing.
Some things you never outgrow.
With the Library high on her list of places to visit, Wentz finally walked through the doors Friday to enjoy the Library’s annual Mother’s Day breakfast with two of her daughters, Maria Cormany and Mary Margaret Greene. All three are from different states.
It was a fitting place to celebrate Mother’s Day since their whole family grew up listening to Billy Graham on TV. Cormany remembers her grandmother always calling with reminders to tune in.
“She’d call and say, ‘Now don’t forget: 7 o’clock, Billy Graham’s gonna be on channel 3,'” Cormany said. “We’d all get excited.”
Earlier in the week, Cormany drove from her home in West Virginia to pick up her mother in Ohio, then the pair headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, to meet Greene, the one from Tennessee. After the Mother’s Day breakfast, the sisters were eager to take their mom on the Journey of Faith tour, which tells the story of how God has used Billy Graham’s ministry.
Wentz got to witness both daughters accept Christ years ago. Cormany made her decision for Christ at a church revival.
“I was afraid to go down there alone and (Mom) said, ‘If I go with you, will you go?'”
Even today, Cormany and Greene said, their mother is present for nearly all the family’s special occasions … even when they’re a surprise.
Germany, 1954
The Mother’s Day breakfast isn’t just for sharing new memories, but for some, an opportunity to step back in time.
In August 1954, Elizabeth Kohlstadt boarded a small, eight-person bus in Germany.
“I was the youngest one on it,” she said, recalling her teen years.
It hadn’t been that long since Kohlstadt was confirmed in the church at age 15, but she knew her faith was at a standstill. On that bus headed to a Billy Graham Crusade, she was hopeful.
“I was searching,” she said. “I wanted more.”
About 10 years earlier, Kohlstadt’s dad had died in World War II, leaving her mom a widow with five children. Her family fled to Denmark as refugees, but later returned to Germany. That’s where she heard Billy Graham preach and realized that her faith was just about that—faith, and not works as she had been brought up to believe.
That Crusade left Kohlstadt with a new desire to pore over the pages of the Bible. She moved to the United States in 1955 and now lives in Baltimore. Although she was told years ago she’d never have children, she came to the Billy Graham Library Friday with her biological daughter, Vicky Salo.
Kohlstadt was particularly excited about a mantle in one of the Library exhibits that has a German inscription written across it, translated “A mighty fortress is our God.”
It’s that godly strength that has upheld Kohlstadt throughout the years and the same strength she hopes to pass onto her daughter.
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