Only later, did some of those small town boys who moved to big cities, or who had common names, or who became nationally known discover they needed three names to avoid confusion. Harry S. Truman was a good example. Although he never had but two names, he later added an initial. The S. didn't stand for anything.
Our Dad was a very good man. So was our Mother. But they were different. And no one can ever convince me that is not one of the main reasons my sister Kathryn and I turned out to be pretty good and well adjusted people.
Daddy was always positive and looking on the bright side.
Mother's attitude was "hope for the best, but don't be surprised if everything starts tumbling down at any moment."
" Be skeptical," was her motto.
" Be skeptical," was her motto.
I received a letter from one of Daddy's friends shortly after he died that sums up nicely what my Dad was like:
Dear Eddie:
I am sorry that it has not been my pleasure to know you better. I hope some day to do so. I was with you at both services today. Eddie, my heart went out to you, your Mother and Sister,. I have certainly lost a very fine friend.
For some reason Walter and I clicked on first meeting, this was in 1935. When I first came to Charlotte he was very kind to me. I remember my first year he come to me gave me your mother's name and bought two small lots of stock. He did this to help Dunlop, the new man, who needed help. He knew at that time eight or ten other fellows in our line, but he gave this business to the new man to help him. That's the kind of a guy he was.
Eddie I want you to have this check. Note the date and amount, not the back how worn it is. In 1941 he and I were in his small one room office up stairs here in the Johnston Bldg. At that time neither of us had anything at all, nothing but a job that we were very thankful for. I told him I worried over my money just running each time until the next pay day, I was afraid something would happen and I would not have any money and would be out of luck. He told me then, "Jo don't you worry because you've got what it takes to get by and to make good and I know you are going to get along." Then, he wrote this check and he told me to carry it and whenever I needed money to cash it. Then he said, "you had better remember to let me know so I will be sure to cover the check."
So you see, Eddie, he did not have any more than I did but he had to do something to help his friend Dunlop.
They don't make men like that today, Eddie, he was frank and honest, very sincere. He had something that always made me FEEL like he liked me, he was never in too big a hurry to stop and talk and be friendly with me. This sort of a guy gets inside you.
For several years, I had him believing that this check I was carrying was for $100 not $10. I would ask him if he had $100 in the bank that thought I was going to cash the check, he would say no, but he sure will get it. Then one day he said to me, "I've been thinking about that check and I know that was not $100 because I had so little then, that I certainly wouldn't even have thought as high as that.
I want you to have the check and carry it in your wallet so it will remind you of what a swell fellow your Dad was. I want you to be that same kind of a fellow.
Eddie, I will miss him and think often of him.
My very best to you and my love to your mother and sister.
Sincerely yours,
Jo P. Dunlop
Daddy didn't care much for formal religion. He didn't know if God was Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian or what....all he knew for sure was ....that he didn't know. He just concentrated on doing the best he could to be a good, understanding, gentle and kind man. What a success he was!
Mother was an amazing and wonderful person whose childhood poverty seem to affect her more than my father's dysfunctional early life molded him. She was without a doubt a "driven" person She both "saved her money" and "denied herself" with a vengeance. She began working at Western Union around 1928 or so at $7 a week and retired forty years later a moderately wealthy woman. However, she never denied us children or any of her family anything.
She had a strong sense of right and wrong. Perhaps too much so.
I believe she would have been a much happier person if she had moderated that sense of personal denial and skepticism especially in later life.
I have no doubt that when Mother showed up at the Pearly Gates and was welcomed in by Saint Peter, the conversation went something like this:
"Welcome to Heaven, Mrs. Myers, the Lord is waiting to meet you come right in........he has prepared a wonderful place for you to spend eternity"
Mother: "Well, I sure hope he knows what he's doing."
No comments:
Post a Comment