Journey(s) to Paducah

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Guest Post by Sammie Thompson

It was January 17, 2023. Having enjoyed a lovely holiday visit with family in the midwest, I was now fully loaded with supplies and a AAA well-planned route to Austin, Texas. My destination was to attend another Clergy Retreat because the previous year’s event had been so spiritually enlightening and uplifting. The Trip Tik had information about interesting stops en route and I had extra days to allow for some exploring and smelling roses on the way.  

With a happy heart, looking forward to the time on the road,  I waved goodbye to my daughter as I gently backed my motorhome out of her driveway. As the rear tires touched the street, I heard the familiar inner voice of my spiritual guide say, “You could go to Paducah.”

My response was “Whaaaaat?”

Again I was told,“You could go to Paducah.”

“Really?”

I stopped where I was, feeling the impact of this “suggestion.” I had never even considered going in that direction. The planned drive was totally different, and included some areas I hadn’t seen before. I grabbed my cell phone and checked the maps to see what that looked like. It was a very different drive, yet I was surprised to see it was not really even out of the way. Then a memory came in with another impact.

A little over 7 years ago another ECKist and I were on a post-ECKANKAR World Wide Seminar road trip, and were suddenly “inspired” to do a side trip to Paducah, Kentucky, and visit the library. It wasn’t far from where we had visited our respective families, so we responded readily.

We spent hours there poring over and photocopying a lot of pages about Paul Twitchell’s early life: Newspaper articles, photos of his high school athletic “career,” pictures of him in full Navy uniform from his time in the service, a few of his poems, even the cycle of his life as a riverboat captain! 

My photocopying made the library about $12 richer, my companion’s, probably the same. We returned to the library the next morning for another few hours of photocopying. We even took a side trip to what reportedly was the last house Paul lived in there and took pictures.

The new owner came out to see what we were doing. The conversation that ensued lasted about half an hour as we shared stories about Paul. The owner was intrigued and impressed, said he wanted to learn more, would probably go to the library himself and read about Paul’s history. 

I had intended to make a personal notebook of all this, to be available for others to view at the ECK Center on Founder’s Day (September 17) events. But when I began to create the notebook, I discovered that most of the important and interesting pages were missing. They could only have disappeared during a visit to a friend on the way back to my home. To say I was disappointed would be a huge understatement. I felt a tremendous sense of something forever lost and had the thought, “I’ll probably never get back to Paducah again.” 

I also felt I had somehow failed to be responsible for something I was supposed to do, and that made it worse. But now the inner guidance came through to let me know I had another opportunity…. I could easily route my travel back to Paducah and complete my “assignment!” That would not have occurred to me on my own. I was envisioning a totally different travel plan! But when that inner voice speaks, I’ve learned that it pays to heed it.

That evening found me at McCracken County Library in Paducah, Kentucky, to re-visit the history data of Paul Twitchell, modern day founder of ECKANKAR. This time, though, all the source material we’d had access to before, was NOT available. What remained was mostly nicely organized into 2-3 bound booklets. I did not find copies of the newspaper articles about him or by him, but one of the librarians offered to look further and send me scans of anything else they could find. 

He also apologized that the curator was not in town at the time, but he’d let him know what I was hoping to do, and have the curator get in touch with me when he returned in a few weeks. 

Meanwhile, my cell phone took pix of the pictures I could find, including several of the same ones I lost before that. These are well displayed in Doug Marman’s book, The Whole Truth: The Spiritual Legacy of Paul Twitchell. I had talked with Doug before making this road trip, and as we shared our experiences, it seems we did a lot of the same things on our separate journeys, including going to that particular house. 

Over seven years, Doug did a great deal of research for his book. What I saw of it looked phenomenal! Later, I was gifted a copy and truly enjoyed reading it. It filled me in on several gaps in events and explained missing details about some important changes. I learned a lot and deeply appreciate the tremendous effort Doug made!

You know how you can sometimes become spiritually high without knowing it? Wanting to be respectful of the library staff, I made certain to leave just before closing, not just be the last one in there. As soon as I got outside, I knew something was wrong. It didn’t look like the way I came in. There was no “street” and no cars. No motorhome! Uh-oh! I turned around to go back inside but the door was already locked (one minute early)! 

Wearing the forlorn look of the damsel in distress (no acting required there!) while rapping on the glass and calling out for help, the kind librarians unlocked all the doors so I could re-enter through the back door and exit out the front. I was so relieved and so very grateful to see my little RV right where I had parked it, safe and secure. The next hour was spent driving around town in the dark to get to the one of three Wal Mart parking lots where I could safely spend the night near two other motorhomes. By morning, my feet were back on solid ground, to continue the journey.  

Part Two:  As was promised, the curator contacted me around a month later and thus began an email acquaintance that became a professional friendship. I shared my project idea, and he agreed to make material available and send it to me. Spirit had me tread lightly with ideas and inspirations and he responded positively. He sent copies of articles I especially liked. The reprint quality was not as good as directly from the copier, but it was readable. He sent me a lot of pictures of Paul through various stages of life. 

Being a former newspaper writer and editor, I wanted to organize things chronologically, but kept that to myself.  Several times I offered to travel at my own expense, to volunteer helping with this project if his staff was needed on other duties. Each time I offered, it seems he was nudged to take another step. First he made a page of all those pictures of Paul, in no order.  Then the next time I looked in at the site, they were in chronological order.  I was elated!

One afternoon while responding to his latest note, a stream of consciousness emission came forth, along the lines of …

“ECKANKAR students know Paul Twitchell founded these spiritual teachings, but not much has been known about his life before he brought them out into the modern world. Paul had an amazing life! He was active in many areas, such as sports. 

“In his teens he organized and coached sports teams, was a published writer and poet, was a tireless promoter of many of his interests, including public relations. Did you know he was also a riverboat captain?  Paul founded and established an international spiritual path, with hundreds of thousands of followers, students in virtually every country in the world, and he was born and raised right here in Paducah! Isn’t that great!” I knew this did not originate from me so was very comfortable about sending it. 

Part Three: Spirit works with each of us in ITS own way. The curator “on his own” surprised me by not only having things displayed in chronological order, but “on his own” he created a Digital Online Collection of Paul Twitchell so anyone, anywhere in the world, could access it at any time and enjoy getting to know more about him. 

Every time I go to the McCracken County Library website, scroll down to Digital Collections and Paul Twitchell’s name, I am surprised and so grateful to see it has been added to, expanded. (Please click on “Browse All” on that link to see all of Paul’s old photos and some newspaper clippings.) At my last visit, it included pictorial  information of what life was like in those years in the river city of Paducah. 

The library states that Paul Twitchell donated a box containing a collection of memorabilia from his life growing up there, and other items from his continuing life experiences. Other ECKists may also have contributed information and pictures from the very beginning of ECKANKAR’S spiritual pathway, such as early experiences working directly with Paul.  Looks very much like it will continue to blossom and grow, and be there for all who are interested.  

 I have gained so much from this experience! We never know when the Holy Spirit is going to ask us to serve in some unexpected way, or even understand that we are actually serving a cause while we are doing it. My personal Paul Twitchell notebook is yet to be made, although it may no longer even be needed.  I am so grateful to have had the second opportunity to complete an act of spiritual service. All I ever had to do was listen to my Inner Guidance, and follow it. Simple, right? If only it was always understood…. 

However, nothing compares with the joy of having completed the task requested and receiving the heart opening experience of divine love that is gifted as a result.

Life is a precious gift and a blessing! Thank God, literally!

©  9/11/24  Sammie Thompson  Gladstone OR All Rights Reserved
©  10/30/24  Sammie Thompson  Gladstone OR All Rights Reserved

Please note: Photos in this post are from the McCraken County Library.

Sammie Thompson has been a singer and musician all her life, expressing love through her professional career as songwriter, entertainer, concert and recording artist.  As a certified therapeutic musician, she became a greater vehicle for Divine Love. Sammie’s uplifting harp and piano selections at myriad Eckankar events have inspired audiences throughout the US and internationally. 

Her CD titled “From the Heart of Love,” recorded with Rodney Jones, features an instrumental version of the popular song, “This Is Love.” It is also available as an MP3.

Sammie may be contacted via email: [email protected]