watches. Eddie eventually enlisted in the Army, but was discharged for bad conduct within six months as far as Otis knew. Ten days before his 21 st birthday, police arrested Eddie Lee Sexton for robbing a gas station near Williamson, West Virginia. He served five years in the state penitentiary in Moundsville. Still, as Otis recalled it, Eddie remained the apple of his mother’s eye. Otis believed she sent him some $6,000 during his prison stay. Meanwhile, Otis was struggling in Canton, starting a family and his ministry. “At that time, we didn’t know where our next meal was coming from. But Eddie, yeah, he had it all. In prison, he gambled and set up a store. When he got out of prison, I’m driving this banged-up old Buick. It looked like death takes a holiday. But within seven days of Eddie getting out, mom bought him a brand new Pontiac, within one week!” By 26, Otis was preaching. In 1966, he founded a small church on Navarre Road. Then he created his road ministry, called Burning Bush Revivals. “When I converted our church to the Church of God of Prophecy, that’s a worldwide organization. I was scrutinized, let me tell you, by the bishops of the church. You had to have Bible knowledge and some sociology. I became a bishop myself.” In 1971, Eddie, out of prison and married to May, decided he was going to preach. According to Otis, he took an easier route. He opened a tiny storefront church in Canton, taking Otis’s old name, the Calvary Church of God. Recalled Otis, “Anybody can go out there and get a five-dollar licence and go preaching as an independent. As a matter of fact, I offered to help Eddie where I could. But then I went over there to one of his services and when I heard what was going down, I said, that’s it.” Otis recalled his brother distorting scripture.
Eddie preached that God had thrown a third of the angels out of heaven with Lucifer and they had “gone to earth and married among men.” He told his congregation that this and other scriptural references made men as gods. Otis said he walked out. The church lasted only six months. Few were there to listen anyway. “The only people in the congregation were Eddie’s family and a couple of friends,” Otis said.
As Otis recalled it, over the years they floated in and out of each other’s lives. They held garage and yard sales together. He suggested to Eddie that he start a painting business so he could put his teenage boys to work. Otis showed Patrick, Eddie Jr., and Willie how to hold brushes, glaze windows, and do detailed trim work. Eddie put a business phone for S&S Painting in his den. The little company got jobs for a couple of summers. Otis would drop by the house on Caroline a couple of mornings each week. They’d sit at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes, shooting the breeze. Yes, during those years he got along with Eddie, Otis would admit, but yet he didn’t.
Especially when the girls started having babies. “There’s two sides to Eddie,” he would say. The afternoon of the shelter hearing, Wayne Welsh interviewed the Sexton children again. They hadn’t even been out of their parents’ care 24 hours, and already they were talking.
Charles, or Skipper, the tough wrestler, began crying. He pushed the tears back into his sandy hair and winged ears, then admitted both parents beat him frequently. He said his father once made him and his brother Matt stand naked in the living room in front of the entire family as they held encyclopedias in their outstretched hands. He was punished for eating without permission or leaving a ball in a neighbor’s yard. He said his mother had choked and scratched him only a few months ago after she accused him of fondling his 12-year-old sister Lana. But he also added that his mother wasn’t spared his father’s wrath. He sometimes beat her, and once held a shotgun to her head. Matt, another sandy blond, had more stoic features than his older brother, but the
Eddie preached that God had thrown a third of the angels out of heaven with Lucifer and they had “gone to earth and married among men.” He told his congregation that this and other scriptural references made men as gods. Otis said he walked out. The church lasted only six months. Few were there to listen anyway. “The only people in the congregation were Eddie’s family and a couple of friends,” Otis said.
As Otis recalled it, over the years they floated in and out of each other’s lives. They held garage and yard sales together. He suggested to Eddie that he start a painting business so he could put his teenage boys to work. Otis showed Patrick, Eddie Jr., and Willie how to hold brushes, glaze windows, and do detailed trim work. Eddie put a business phone for S&S Painting in his den. The little company got jobs for a couple of summers. Otis would drop by the house on Caroline a couple of mornings each week. They’d sit at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes, shooting the breeze. Yes, during those years he got along with Eddie, Otis would admit, but yet he didn’t.
Especially when the girls started having babies. “There’s two sides to Eddie,” he would say. The afternoon of the shelter hearing, Wayne Welsh interviewed the Sexton children again. They hadn’t even been out of their parents’ care 24 hours, and already they were talking.
Charles, or Skipper, the tough wrestler, began crying. He pushed the tears back into his sandy hair and winged ears, then admitted both parents beat him frequently. He said his father once made him and his brother Matt stand naked in the living room in front of the entire family as they held encyclopedias in their outstretched hands. He was punished for eating without permission or leaving a ball in a neighbor’s yard. He said his mother had choked and scratched him only a few months ago after she accused him of fondling his 12-year-old sister Lana. But he also added that his mother wasn’t spared his father’s wrath. He sometimes beat her, and once held a shotgun to her head. Matt, another sandy blond, had more stoic features than his older brother, but the
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