- Winston Sill
Reverend Russell Morgan (left) and his wife Beverley enjoy a laugh with maid of honour Donna Gibson and Bishop Alfred Morris. The Morgans, who are both blind, were renewing their vows at the Linstead New Testament Church, Commodore, recently.
WHAT IS courtship, marriage and raising children like for those who are not sighted?
One possible answer to these questions comes from Russell and Beverley Morgan who were married on October 25, 1972. The couple are both sight impaired. They recently celebrated 30 years of marriage.
Russell Morgan, a preacher in the New Testament Church of God movement, greets us in his mellifluous pastor's voice when Outlook visits their home in Whitehouse, Ewarton.
His rich tone is the first sign of the complex internal life of a man who lives in stark simplicity.
His residence in Bog Walk immediately reveals that his is a family of small means, but later we find out that material possessions matter little.
Russell, although now completely blind, was not always so. He was born near-sighted and was able to 'glimpse' until 1999 when his sight deteriorated and then was no more.
His wife, Beverley, was blind from the day he met her. They met very soon in life he at age 15 and Beverley at only 12 while travelling together in an ambulance from Harry Watch, in Manchester to Kingston, where Beverley would be admitted to the Salvation Army School for the Blind, and Russell would find accommodation in Kingston from people sympathetic to his cause.
Before this, Russell attended school in Waterloo, Manchester. His eye problem brought him to the attention of an "English" nurse, who made the arrangements for him to be taken to Kingston. Beverley may have also been a recipient of this nurse's kindness.
Russell first heard Beverley's voice in the ambulance and was intrigued. "I said to myself, this voice sounds so good." On closer inspection, he also admired her very long hair, plaited over her back.
Many days after they travelled together, he made enquiries, and on being told that Beverley had been placed with the Salvation Army School For the Blind, he started visiting her there. What Russell had to say must been very shocking for the 12-year-old Beverley. "I asked her which finger was the ring finger. She showed me. I took her hand and said, 'This hand will wear my ring'."
Russell waited until Beverley was 19 years old and he was 22 before they got married. Mrs. Morgan remembers clearly his first proposal. She says, "I was just laughing. I only started taking him seriously when I was near to leaving school. He used to use love verses to me. My love for him just grew."
Russell, responding to Beverley's claim that he used love verses, is sceptical and comments, "If I used any love verses, they must have been from Proverbs." He had gotten saved from 1964 and was by 1965 a preacher. He doubts that he would have been indulging in anything that was "worldly".
But, he says, he was attracted to that Beverley who "had long hair. I loved that. The Bible says that the hair is given for the glory of the woman. She was also a good singer." By living together after marriage, Russell also discovered that Beverley was a very good wife. "She has never complained. If I give her even a dollar she stretched it."
Their first child, Sophia Loraine, was born in 1974. In 1975, their son, Fabian, put in his appearance.
The sight-impaired couple say that, apart from the financial challenges, they had no trouble raising their sighted children.
"Children today are different from children back then. It was good with Fabian and Sophia. They accepted the Lord. Sophia was baptised at age six and was a very good singer. We sang together Sophia, her mother and me. Fabian was baptised at age 7."
Now that the children are older and living on their own, the father believes that the seed of faith planted in them is still germinating. "I visited Fabian in Baltimore, and when I was going through the door, I heard him praying," he recalls.
Pastor Gordon, as he is affectionately called by hundreds, confesses that he lives by faith, and raised his family by the same method.
While he has done a very small amount of buying and selling to put food on the table, he mainly survives by praying about his needs. He recounts, "there was one time when there was a bill that I had to pay, and I knew if I got US$250 I would be able to pay it. So, I went into the bathroom, sat on the bowl which was closed and said, 'Lord, if you could send me US$250 I would be able to pay this bill and also put some food on the table'." He came out of the bathroom to hear the phone ringing. The person at the other end of the line said, 'I am calling to let you know I am sending you US$250'."
The house in which the Morgans live is also the result of faith. Russell Morgan states, "Once, when the mortgage was in arrears, I walked into the bedroom, turned up my eyes and said, 'Oh sah. If you want me to go and live under mango tree, I will. Still, I know you going to take care of it'." The very next day, someone called, asked about the mortage and offered to pay the arrears. She also gave him money to purchase food.
Just three weeks after this experience, Russell recalls hearing a voice which told him to call someone. When he did, the person told him that he had some money for him. He travelled all the way from Mandeville and gave him $10,000. Not too long after this, another man called him and closed out the mortgage account for $124,000. This is Russell's testimony one of literally dozens.
He is sometimes given money by congregations before which he preaches, which include churches in most parishes in Jamaica, and several states in the United States of America.
Other women may have been driven mad by the objective circumstances of the marriage, but, in Beverley, Russell met his match. He would pray, and she would put on the pot.
Once, when they were living in Tavern, Papine, there was no food in the house and no money to buy any, Russell instructed his wife to 'light the stove and put on the pot'.
She asked no question, but went and did as her husband suggested.
Meanwhile, Russell went and knelt in the bedroom. "I said, 'God I am your child. I have no food. You will have to send someone because the pot a boil. I know you will provide'."
In a while, the family heard the 'chuc chucc chukka' of a car engine. Their benefactress was here. It was Jossett Scott, "coming all the way from Shortwood with a box of groceries that she said God had told her to bring."
The box was so big, that the Morgans were able to share with others from their bounty. "We had breakfast, we had dinner, and we gave away," Pastor Morgan recalls. He is always giving, because he does not believe in hoarding against an uncertain future. If what he has is enough to share with those who have less, he does so.
On a daily and nightly basis, he also shares his time with people from all over the country and across the world. Even 2:00 a.m. in the wee hours of the morning, the phone is still ringing, he admits.
While Russell speaks, Beverley, who has suffered from a stroke and is also on medication for diabetes, has fallen asleep. She gently snores as her husband recounts their life experience.
But, when we ask for advice for those who are young in marriage, she wakes up to make her input: "Both parties have to have faith," she says.
Her husband comments, "Marriage depends upon mutual understanding. You have to learn to live with one another's weakness. It's mutual understanding, tolerance and trust."
About the future, he says, "My whole purpose it to get another anointing from God so I can do great exploits and help people."
By now, his wife is asleep again maybe dreaming about the man she has never seen, but who believes in the same God that she does, and whom she trusts with her life.
Renewing the 30-year vow
It was deja vu as Russell and Beverly Morgan renewed their vows after thirty years of marriage.
The ceremony was held at the Linstead New Testament Church of God in Commodore. Light drops of rain were seen only as "showers of blessing" instead of a hindrance. The couple went the full nine yards as there was a full wedding party including ring bearer and flower girl. The colours chosen for the wedding were mint green for the bridesmaids and grey for the groomsmen. At least a hundred persons, some from the National Association for the Blind, turned up at the spacious church to witness the event.
Bishop Alfred Morris presided over the ceremony and congratulated the couple for staying together, especially in a society where so many marriages fail. Two solos, appropriately chosen were dedicated to the couple: a rendition of Celine Dion's 'Because you loved me' and an amended version of 'In your hands'. In response to the latter, Bishop Morris implored the congregation to put their lives in the hands of the Almighty. After the exchange of vows and rings, the guests would not let the couple leave before 'the kiss'. They eagerly obliged.
Reception followed at the Rose Hall 4-H Training Centre. Guests were treated to tasty 'Saturday soup' for starters as well as rice and peas with chicken. A community sound system operator kept the crowd humming with such selections as 'Carry your candle', 'The storm is over' and The Lord is my Light'.
- Avia Ustanny & Daviot Kelly
