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Bigelow Teas

bgibson135

I don’t recall if I had tried Bigelow Teas before I met Rick and Linda Bell (New River Baptist Church), but I do recall having Constant Comment and Earl Grey tea at their home (Brynn Mawr Dr., Jacksonville, NC).

See Spring 2017 Vacation for how I first tried the Raspberry Royale tea. This was the tea I tried, and there was an assortment of Bigelow Teas in the Public/Common Area.

I bought a small package of dried orange slices at Sprouts some time ago. I got them home, and took one out and then realized that eating them straight out of the package wasn’t pleasant. They were hard, dry orange slices. Not candied. But, I didn’t throw them away immediately. *After months, I was preparing a cup of Constant Comment tea, and I had the thought that the flavor influence of this tea was ‘orange’ and I thought that maybe adding a slice of the dried orange might enhance the flavor. It worked. The orange slice re-hydrated, softened, added to the tea’s flavor and even was almost completely edible after the tea was drunk.

I like cream in my Earl Grey and Raspberry Royale teas.

ADDENDUM [02/13/22]: I had not thought of Rick or Linda Bell for quite some time. Rick was still a Baptist pastor in Liberty, NC the last time I saw him in person. And, unfortunately, I was in a state of mental turmoil, specifically due to my work, at the time, and am sure my visit was viewed negatively. What do I remember? I think I met the Bells about 1984 and we attended New River Baptist Church in Jacksonville, NC at the time. Rick was still in the Marines and I believe he was a Marine pilot that was a navigator on an Intruder. He attributed hearing damage in one ear due to the placement of an engine on the Intruder. He was stationed overseas at some point and left Linda and the two boys, Chuck and Chris, in Jacksonville (Brynn Marr Rd.). I got to know Linda because we were both in the New River Choir. When Rick returned from being stationed overseas, we all became friends, and Rick and Linda took me in, as a family friend. Both Chuck and Chris were still boys.

As Rick was being extricated from the Marines, he and I played on the Red and Gold golf courses on board Camp Lejeune. I wasn’t any good, and the golfing bug never really caught me. *I was a tennis player. After the Marines, Rick went to seminary (Wake Forest) and became a Baptist minister. Seems like Rick and Linda lived in Raleigh, NC for some years, but I last saw them in Liberty, NC, where Rick was pastoring. Rick and the boys were outdoorsmen, canoeing, etc.

I was told that Chuck was in the Navy and was a whiz on a nuclear submarine. Chris had learning issues. One time, I recall saying something ‘witty’ to Chris, who looked at me angrily… as he processed through what I meant, and when he realized that I wasn’t intending to insult him, his demeanor changed and the anger left his face. But, his learning disability would haunt him, and he failed his senior year in high school, twice. He did not know how to cope with this failure positively. *I think that he could have used his outdoorsman talents, as a nature/hunting guide or some such, found him a girlfriend/wife and had a pleasant life doing those things he was good at.

I’m not sure of which year I last visited the Bells in Liberty, NC, but I just came across the obituary for their oldest son, Chuck who died at age 42 in November of 2012. No one wants their children to precede them in death.

ADDENDUM [ 11/17/23 ]: Glad I wrote this because I couldn’t recall the name of the aircraft that Rick flew on. And, in reading about the seating arrangement of the pilot & navigator (Rick being the navigator.) on the Intruder, they were seated side by side, but the navigator’s seat was located slightly lower than the pilot’s in order to give the pilot a better view. This might have put the navigator closer to the engine, and that would have aided Rick’s hearing loss in one ear.

I think Rick didn’t go to seminary fresh out of the Marines. Seems he may have acted as a camping guide for a while, not sure if Raleigh or somewhere further west in NC, before going to the Baptist seminary in Wake Forest, NC. *Not Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, NC.

But, it was while Rick was a pastor in Suffolk, VA (I think.) that Chris committed suicide in his father’s study. Just yesterday, it sank in a little deeper at how devastating this must have been. I did go up to visit the family during that time and recall Linda in tears. I’m sorry that Chris didn’t find a positive way out, or past his learning disability. As I said above, he could have probably found “his niche” in society that might not have been up to a certain standard, but more than enough to make him a happy, fulfilled person.