I thought this would be fun. I suspect most memories people share will be humorous and sarcastic but feel free to post any truly fond memories of the Mad Greek as well!

Here’s my first offering:

I went to a meeting when I was in kindergarten and George was the speaker. I had recently discovered I could get a reaction by sticking up my middle finger and waving it about.

Once the boredom set in during the meeting I thought I would practice my new gesture. I checked myself out in the mirror that was at the end of my row. Lookin’ good!

I caught the eye of a couple saints and waved it their way. Startled embarrassment. Yeah, baby!

Shot a quick finger to my buddy Gerrod Farlow. Gerrod had an older, wiser brother (second grade) and I knew he would have a better idea as to why I was getting such a great reaction. Gerrod stifled his laughter behind his hands as his face turned red.

Next target . . . The Man himself. Wait. Catch his eye. Wait. Wait. He’s sweeping back this way . . . Now!

Oh, sweet attention! He actually stumbled over a word!

Deeply satisfied, I turned in my seat and rested my chin on the back of the metal chair. I was staring at one of the teenage Mathias boys. I lifted the finger up to him and grinned.

Whoops. Evil glare. Not what I expected at all.

Hmm. Maybe I’d better check on this. I tugged at my mom and asked her in whispered tones, “What does this mean?”

Her eyes crossed peering at the finger hovering before her nose. Ah, there’s the reaction I had grown to love!

She shoved my hand down and stuttered something to the effect that it means someone is full of baloney.

Well, I knew that couldn’t be right, but if she wasn’t going to tell me, I wasn’t going to stop fishing for red faces and stricken looks.

I spent the rest of the meeting flipping George the bird every time he looked to my side of the room! I never got into trouble over it or heard anything else about it. Guess George spared me on that one.

What a great guy!

Scott McCumber

George of course has his own set of sayings that he managed to slip into every single lecture I ever heard.  

The most common was, of course:

-"I was born in night clubs and dance halls.  It was a good pagan home.  There was no bible reading, no gospel singing in my home."

But there was also:

-"Sprint with me saints."  

-"Let's hear the breezes of heaven rustling through those pages."

Dawn, Liz, and I would count the number of times he would say these things and compare at the end of the meeting to see who caught more.  We had to be careful not to look at each other when he would tell of his childhood because we would bust up laughing.  

And there were the standard miss pronunciations:

Thimble = Thiple

Roller Coaster = Rolley Coaster

The favorite misquoted verse, "I will not leave you orphanless".

Scott, you are baaad! but hilariously funny!

A couple of years ago (summer MTT to Bloomington) we were enjoying lunch together after a Sunday morning meeting and Dawn(pre-Smith) pipes up and says that one of her Dad's peeves was the way people pronounced Haggai. Some discussion ensued until someone piped up and said "Well, talk to your grandfather..."

After pre-prayer:
Rejoice in the Lord!
ALWAYS!
And again I say
REJOICE!!!!!

You know why they're called the good old days? Yeah, because they're good and gone.

You know what a rut is? It's a grave with the ends knocked out.

You don't want to leave your change on the counter now, do you?

The "sprint with me heavenly footmen" usually came after he had spent 2/3 rds of the time on his introduction and first point, and then needed to get through points 2,3, and the conclusion in the remaining 1/3rd time.  Interestingly enough JimH tended to do this too without the 'sprint with me..'

And then there was the classic where we were into 1hr 59 mins into a 2 hr meeting, and GG would finally be at his conclusion, and he'd say "I have 12 points, you want it all now don't you? You don't want to leave your change on the counter?" And everyone would muster up the strength to say "AMEN!" because we had been told to Rejoice Always just after pre-prayer.
As one brother put it "Mama Mia!"

Those were the days...
Marcia

Marcia,

How is it that you know all these classic GG'isms, when you are from Ottawa?  GG didn't have any influence there, according to the LB's.  What gives?

George couldn't have preached there enough so that people picked up on his speech peculiararities, he only came out there twice a year!

Are you sure you aren't just trying to play along?  

Brent

  Well, I'm no Joe Sperling, but . . .    

Wanted to do something special for my 200th post!

S

I am going to be out for a few days, but can't wait until Monday to get back here and read what this thread brings.

In the meantime, hopefully the Huskers will hire a football coach between now and then.  

My most recent memories of George were his sneezing and blowing of his nose during seminar lectures.  I guess even he was allergic to them .  BTW, it was all captured on videotape in case anyone wants to watch.

I also remember times several years back when Jim Hayman used to preach.  As I recall, he was both eloquent and entertaining, even though he said nothing of any substance.  When he got into his stories, I would look at George to see his reaction.  Later, I would watch Jim's boys to see their reactions to their dad's stories.

Thankfully, I won't ever have to listen to Tim G's rambling, vowel-munching messages again.

One other thing.  As a doorkeeper in Fullerton, I was frequently assigned to watch the front door, which meant sitting out in the hallway.  Also, I often volunteered to parking lot watch, especially during Sunday afternoons and Wednesday nights.  People thought I did it because I was a gung-ho soldier for the testimony, but really I did it to get away from it all for a while and think.  Many times it was quite nice to be in the parking lot, chilling out and watching the sun set, or watching the dance of the clouds in the sky and the birds flying...

mithrandir

Yeah, I have some idea. One time my entire family had to stay in George's house. For about two weeks all I heard from my parents was how good and quiet I would have to be during our visit.

I guess the screams emanating from my little brother when I convinced him the orange soap in GG's bathroom was really orange candy were not exactly what they had in mind!

Later, I was admonished both by my parents and by Betty to stay quiet while George was studying. And to definitely stay out of the hallway where his office was.

Of course, I immediately went exploring down the hallway, opening doors as I went and peeking in. I opened one and there was the Great Man himself studying at his desk (thank God that's all I saw in there ). I had intruded into his den!

He stared at me. I stared at him. The wise thing would have been to quietly shut the door and go on about my business. Doing the wise thing was never an option for me. I marched straight through his study and out onto the balcony - heart pounding.

I stood out there and took in the marvelous view (he had a cool backyard) for as long as I could stand it. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. Then I turned around and walked back out, feeling his stare between my shoulder blades. I shut the door in triumph.

Not a bad day's work for a nine-year old!

S

PS - Oh, how I wish I could say I flipped him the bird as I exited! Wouldn't that be sweet.