The Rev. G. C. McIlwain, only modern-day minister we know of who's never had a car, is going to hang up his walking sticks this month and officially retire.

Now serving as pastor of Lafayette Methodist Church, he figures 48 years in the ministry is long enough. So come Annual Conference at the end of this month, he'll move to Dyer to make his home with his brother, the Rev. George McIlwain who served 48 years as a Cumberland Presbyterian minister. . . . long-time service runs in the family; their father, the late Rev. J. A. McIlwain of Dyer was a CP minister 53 years. . . . Named according to the request of a blind minister neighbor, Grover Cleveland McIlwain stated out to be a baseball player--had been interviewed by major league representatives, too, but the Black Sox scandal broke about that time, and the minister-father's opposition to a sports career was not to be overridden. . . . But the athlete's physique still remains and although the calendar says next Nov. 12 will be his 72nd birthday, there's little evidence of all those years in his appearance.

He's never been sick, likes to walk, and considers it good for his heath, so he's never felt the need of a car. . . . How far has he walked? . . . Who knows?

But when he wound up a nine-year ministry at Cookeville Cumberland Presbyterian Church, he figured he'd hoofed it 10,000 miles in Putnam County.

39 years of his ministerial career were in the Cumberland church, starting at Trimble where he stayed 12 years, with time out for YMCA service overseas in World War I. . . . After 11 years at Whiteville, the McIlwains moved to Cookeville, shifting from West Tennessee because of her health. . . . It was at the conclusion of his Cookeville CP ministry that he transferred to the Methodist Church, spending five years at Baxter before moving to Lafayette in 1951--He's leaving a monument at Lafayette, a beautiful native stone church building, located in a new residential area, replacing an old brick structure that had long outlived its usefulness. . . . McIlwain could have stayed on another year, since his 72nd birthday doesn't come until after conference, but Mrs. McIlwain, died this spring--she was Pearl Strange of Friendship before their 1903 marriage. . . . His brother is also alone now--his wife died three years ago.

The walking preacher has two children, Eugene McIlwain of Hartsville and Mrs. Carlton Thomas of 902 Beechmont Place, Nashville. . . . Another son died nine years ago. . . . As he talked, a mason put the finishing touches on the new sidewalk--his monument in Lafayette was finished, to take its place with the motto of his president namesake "I've tried my best to do right."
[Source: The Nashville Banner, August 18, 1956, page 6]