Faith: It’s a family thing

Joan Pitman Blagg is the subject of a remarkable Fairmont Times article about faith.

Joan is married to Eugene “Buck” Blagg. Both are 1951 Monongah High graduates who attend the Monongah High Alumni Reunions nearly every year.

Eugene "Buck" Pitman, Joan Pitman Blagg

Her parents were Charles “Walter” and Ina Pitman. Her sons are Bruce Blagg, who lives in Tampa, Florida; and Darrell Blagg, who lives in Idamay.

Her siblings include Virgil Pitman, Lexie Parks, Bruce Pitman and Velma Hartley. I think I’m missing one sibling. If anyone knows, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com Thank you.

 Buck’s parents were Vaughn Blagg and Neva Hensley Blagg.

Buck’s siblings:

The late Ruth “Inkie” Lemoine Blagg McDonald, who lived in Charles Town; the late Kathleen Blagg Goldstein, Class of 1950, who lived in San Antonio; Vaughn Blagg Jr., who died in infancy; Diana Rotkis of Anchorage, Alaska; Doris Kendall of Spring Mills, West Virginia; and Immogene Blagg McCullough, once in the Air Force.

Inkie followed family tradition when it came to her faith. She was a member of the Jewel City Church in Shinnston and faithfully attended New Destiny Ministry Center in Kearneysville, West Virginia.

Her children are Melody Potts of Charles Town, Bev Rupe of Lady Lake, Jason McDonald of Grafton and Lavonda Cline of Millville, West Virginia.

Tammy Shriver’s story about the Blaggs in the Fairmont Times:

Some people’s faith is a journey filled with trials and hardships. Others are led to faith by friends.

But one might say Joan Pitman Blagg was born into her faith, and the trials and hardships of life have made her faith stronger. The Lord, church and faith have been a major part of her life since before she was born.

Joan Pitman Blagg was born May 9, 1933, the youngest of Charles “Walter” and Ina Pitman’s six children.

Joan Blagg said her parents intended on naming her JoAnn, but it was spelled incorrectly on her birth certificate and she has never changed it.

“Humor me,” says Blagg. “Call me JoAnn, but write it Joan.”

Blagg’s mother, Ina Pitman, started Calvary Temple in the 1930s. In 1929, Blagg’s mother attended an Assemblies of God Crusade in Carolina and was set on fire for the Lord.

Through that crusade, Blagg’s mother became a Pentecostal. After the revival, Pitman began her own crusade.

When she couldn’t find a church, she decided to start one of her own. The church was held in a one-room building that also hosted dances on Saturday nights.

So on Sunday mornings, Pitman would have to clean up the mess from the dance and light a fire in the potbelly stove before they could have church.

“She worked hard,” said Blagg. “I remember I was little, but I was there.” On May 28, 1934, the Rev. Olan Knotts set the church to order and appointed Ina Pitman as pastor.

Shortly after she received her license to preach from the Potomac District. During the time between the revival and receiving her degree, the church would have ministers come in and preach and teach.

After receiving her degree, Pitman pastored the church herself. Pitman would preach and Blagg’s aunt, Elsie Hawkins, would play the piano.

“A lot of times it was just the two of them, but then my aunt would go out and pick up children and bring them to church and then their parents began to come and the church grew,” said Blagg.

Blagg is certain that if it hadn’t been for her mother’s faith and trust in the Lord, she would not have survived her childhood.

“I almost died when I was 2. I had cat scratch fever. My mom was outside the door praying for me, or I probably would have died,” said Blagg.

At age 2, Blagg had cat scratch fever that caused a sore under her chin that opened and she bled through the mattress of her crib. Her parents rushed her to the doctor, and the doctor was sure she would not survive.

Blagg’s mother was praying outside the door, and the doctor and nurse worked on Blagg. “The doctor kept saying I was going to die because I had lost so much blood. But my mother was praying outside the door,” said Blagg. “The nurse asked the doctor if she could try something, and he said, ‘Go ahead. She is not going to make it anyway.’ So the nurse packed brown sugar in my wound and wrapped it, and I survived.

“I could hear her pray for me when I came home from school,” said Blagg. “It really does something to you. It attaches you to Heaven, as well as I can explain it.

“That is my desire,” said Blagg. “I want to go to Heaven and take as many people with me as I can.”

As a freshman at Monongah High School, Blagg met Buck, her husband of 64 years.

“We had actually met at church but really didn’t notice each other,” said Buck. Buck and his father attended Calvary Temple. Buck’s father left the church, but Buck stayed.

“It’s the only time I can ever remember Buck going against his father,” said Blagg.

The coupled married in November after Buck turned 18 and have been together since.

They have two sons, Bruce and Darrell, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

When the Blaggs’ children were born, Blagg says she felt a responsibility to teach them to serve the Lord and put him first.

“I attribute the longevity of our marriage to the fact that we both put the Lord first and have him first in our lives, and we are second in each other’s lives,” said Buck.

Blagg admits it was not always that way for her. “I had Buck in the wrong place,” she said. “I had him first, but the Lord showed me different.”

About 40 years ago, Buck fell off a house and was in the hospital from November to March. “It wasn’t until the first of March (that year) before the doctors would tell me if he was going to live or not,” said Blagg. “I told God, ‘If you let him live, I will serve you. I need him and I need him bad. But if you take him, I will serve you anyway.’

“That was tough,” said Blagg. “But I knew better. “Mom was a tough preacher and a tough mom. We broke up for a time. When I asked him why he didn’t come back, he said, ‘I was afraid of your mother,’ ” she said.

All that toughness brought Joan and Buck Blagg closer to the Lord. And the Blaggs serve the Lord.

Buck has been on all the boards at the church and is currently treasurer at Calvary Temple.

Joan has cooked, served and even done janitorial jobs. For about 15 years, the Blaggs invited 30-50 people to their home after Sunday evening services for food and fellowship. “I do whatever needs done,” she said.

She worked in the nursery for seven years, worked with the youth, and is currently teaching sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade girls.

“I don’t teach the girls Bible stories. I teach the girls to plan a life with God’s plan for their life because this is a treacherous time. If they don’t make good decisions, they’ll blow it,” said Blagg.

Blagg admits that she loves kids and animals. “Even though cats almost killed me twice — once when I was 2 and again when I was 5 — I still love them and take care of them,” said Blagg.

“The most important thing I have came into this world with me, and that is a desire to go to Heaven and take as many people with me as I can.”

From the humble beginnings of Calvary Temple in the one-room dance hall to the complex that is now the meeting place on Swisher Hill near Worthington, the church has grown, as has its membership, making the Blaggs’ desire to go to Heaven and take as many people with them as they can more of a reality.