Most everyone has a favorite recipe or two that they are happy to share with anyone who asks. Good cooks know that when someone asks for a copy of a recipe, it’s a compliment of the highest order.

Not surprisingly, cookbooks are owned and treasured by good cooks and wannabes alike. We are all looking for that perfect recipe to serve when company comes or for something that’s quick and easy to fix after a hard day at work.

Such were the thoughts of a couple of women from Bogue Chitto Baptist Church when they began to think of a way to not only preserve the recipes of members of their church, but also some of those old favorites passed down from those who had gone before.

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“We wanted to preserve the heritage of the church and also of the Bogue Chitto area,” said Margaret Williamson, one of the “instigators,” as she put it, of the idea to publish a cookbook. Her partner in crime, so to speak, was Mary Alford, who chimed in with, “We wanted recipes from members from years past as a way to preserve their memory. That’s why we chose ‘Generations of Memories’ as the title of the book.”

The Bogue Chitto Baptist Church was organized sometime in the middle 1850s and was first known as Bear Trot Church. That first building was a small log cabin, located just a few hundred yards west of the present site.

Later, in 1873, church members built a larger building, which incorporated wooden windows.

By 1913, a more modern building had been constructed and it had glass windows. At that time, a list of surnames of church members included many names of current members, such as Alford, Bayham, Bankston, Brumfield, Carter, Duncan, Graves, Haley, Holmes, Lambert, McClendon, McElveen, Newman, Passman, Schilling, Shoemaker, Simmons, Smith, Walker, Warner, Whittington and many more. The church, located near Mount Hermon, has always been an active one with members who were dedicated to the spiritual wellbeing of everyone in the area.

By 1923, the church had grown enough to require an addition to house more Sunday school rooms. It was built, and for the next 30 years that addition was enough. But in 1956, plans were made to build a new, more modern facility consisting of an auditorium and a two-story education building.

Within four years, more space was needed and a new 30 foot by 50 foot structure was built housing a kitchen, pastor’s study and more Sunday school rooms.

Another forty years passed before it became necessary to build again. In 2000, a Family Life Center was begun and finally completed and occupied in March of 2004.

Since then, some remodeling has been completed, giving the entire church campus necessary updates.

But back to the cookbook.

After first brainstorming a bit, Mrs. Alford and Mrs. Williamson put together the beginning of a plan, but before they continued, they asked for volunteers to help with the process. Answering the call were Shirley Corkern, Sondra Fortenberry, Rosetta Miller and JoAnne Smith, and the project was on its way.

Alford and Williamson spent many hours researching the best publisher for their book, finally deciding on Morris Press, out of Kearney, Neb. They liked what they saw on the company’s Web site, they said.

“It was a lot of work,” said Alford, seconded by Williamson.

“But,” Mary continued, “I enjoy doing it. I read cooking magazines and cookbooks all the time, rather than reading novels.”

While collecting the recipes from church members, family and friends, a problem they encountered was “a lot of people don’t cook with recipes, especially the older ones,” said Williamson.

So many of the recipes were dictated and then typed by either Alford or Williamson. Both did a lot of typing, they said, but many didn’t have to be typed, as the company accepted handwritten recipes if they were submitted on the forms provided. That was a boon, said Alford.

While neither Alford nor Williamson had any interest in making money from the cookbook, somewhere along the way, the two of them and the rest of the cookbook committee created a cookbook so full of recipes, with so many extras (like three-ring binding, an index to recipes and authors) and with so much attention to detail, such as fonts and style, that sales have just gone through the roof.

The first printing was for 400 books. Including the press overrun, they received about 450 books. After selling the books for just a month, they were sold out.

A second order was placed for 200 more books and they received about 225. This shipment was received about two weeks ago and sales once again are brisk.

“They just enjoy it so much they say. It’s like a history,” said Alford.

Williamson added, “We’re very proud of it.”

And they, and all who had a hand it, should be. Besides having over 500 pages of recipes, the cookbook is lovely to look at and will provide many hours of cooking pleasure.

The books are available at Something Special Shop in Franklinton or by calling Margaret Williamson at 985-877-4473. “Generations of Memories,” a collection of long-treasured recipes, sells for $20, but if you ask the ladies of Bogue Chitto Baptist Church, the book is priceless.