One of the joys of childhood is unfettered imagination. Kids say and do the darnedest things…and make up the darnedest games. The Ainsworth kids were no exception.

Church was a great outlet for our imaginative games. Every week after church was over, the adults would stand around and talk. Some of the kids—and there must have been upwards of six or eight of us on a good week in our small church—would head outside to the southeast corner of the building for our weekly game of Devil in the Ditch. The four of us and our cousins John Earl and Scott were regulars.

The Wesleyanna United Methodist church building itself is a unique structure. Built from local sandstone back in the 1950’s, the church’s sanctuary has a high, pointed roof that from the outside belies the actual seat...

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