On my last birthday, my oldest daughter gave me a gift. A Storyworth account that sends me a question a week and I write about those topics until hopefully, it ends up being a book. Well, I’m behind on those stories, but this week’s top was, 'Who's your most positive influence?' The original piece was over 1,400 words, so I brought a portion of it here to share. And with it being Pop’s birthday, this week was appropriate.
John Willard Stowers, Sr. My dad’s dad, my grandfather, had the most positive influence on me as a child and still as an adult. The thing is, he didn’t talk much but I spent hours and hours with him as a kid. He didn’t preach, he modeled what a good man is.
Pop would drive me to Sunday School and then we were both in the choir and I sat beside him in the bass section. After church, we’d head to the MDJC cafeteria and my grandmother and her sister, Lois Hamilton, who for some reason we called “Sister,” would meet up there. I’d get the fried chicken and mashed potatoes and my grandmother would give me her extra roll. Sometimes I’d get the roast beef, but it was all good. Then we’d go home, and my grandfather would drop me off.
Spending all that time with my grandfather, I saw how he took care of folks. Now that huge garden fed more than just us. He’d bag up tomatoes and corn and whatever and every Tuesday, my favorite day of the week, he’d always ask me a question that the answer was always a definite “YES!”
“Mark, do you want to go to Lions Club with me?”
My grandfather, my father, and my brothers (when they graduated from college) were all members of this civic club, which met every Tuesday at the Community House in Inverness. They had a program and a meal, usually cooked by local ladies or a local restaurant. Fried chicken, pinto beans, turnip greens, rolls and cornbread and sweet tea was a normal meal. Most of the men who were members were farmers who came in dirty from the field, put their hats on a table before entering the main room and enjoyed each other’s company. There’d be laughter and stories then an opening prayer and we’d all eat. There was always a lady from either our church or the Baptist church playing the piano in the background. Then she’d pack up and go home and the men would have their meeting and finish eating.
But back to that positive influence. Lions Club started at noon, but we’d take off at least by 10:45 a.m. to make that six-mile jaunt to town. The backseat of my grandfather’s GM vehicle was stacked with brown paper bags filled with treasures from his garden. We’d take off for town, but Pop ran a mailman’s route, stopping at houses and dropping off these homegrown offerings to friends and shut-ins and such. Somehow, he just kept giving.
I don’t think my grandfather liked litterbugs. No matter where we were, if he saw a piece of trash on the ground, he picked it up and threw it away. That image runs through my head just about every single day. I don’t have the fortitude and consistency that he had, and when I’ve dropped a piece of trash, I immediately think that “Pop wouldn’t do that.” And I pick it up.
Pop never got mad, that I saw. He would direct you in the way that you should be going and support the good paths I took. I could never get enough time spent with him and any trip home would be to come and sit in the den and read old newspapers and magazines, drink a Dr. Pepper and watch Lawrence Welk and tell my grandparents about my newest adventure or venture.
John Willard Stowers, Sr. was and is and will always be the most positive influence on me. Certainly, as a child, and I’m sure I have plenty of other stories to tell about him. There’s something about every day that I live where he pops up in my head, in a good way.
