Talking to a Smart Feller

My Grandpa W. was a handsome man. He was born in 1900 in Chidister, Arkansas. His father was a circuit riding Methodist minister. Grandpa was a lay minister in the United Methodist Church. He knew the Bible better than any person I have ever met. He could quote entire chapters and many of the Psalms. He taught an adult Sunday School class for years and years and preached from the pulpit in the ordained minister's absence. Grandpa also had a beautiful bass singing voice. He, Mom and I used to sing "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" and "Take My Hand Precious Lord" at church. Grandpa was a carpenter by trade, but he also worked in a grocery store, picked cotton during the Depression years and worked for the Forestry Service until he was well into his 80's.

Grandpa was also a gardener. He and Grandma planted, raised and harvested huge amounts of all sorts of vegetables. They raised the best corn I have ever tasted and Grandpa was always quite proud of his watermelon harvest. Grandpa rigged up his own irrigation system from his pond to the garden. It was quite an enterprise. Once when I was a little girl, Grandma sent me to the garden to check on Grandpa. Looking back on this as an adult, I figure Grandma really just needed to get me out of her hair for awhile, but as a child I thought I was really helping her keep an eye on Grandpa. When I arrived at the garden, I could hear Grandpa talking. He was standing in his open sided garden shed smoking a cigarette and talking.....but there was no one else there. I asked Grandpa who he was talking to and he replied, "I'm talking to a smart feller." When I finally made it back to the house, Grandma asked me what Grandpa was doing. I told her that he was smoking and talking to a smart feller. Granny shook her head and said, "That man sure thinks a lot of himself." I really didn't understand the humor until I was older, but I sure remember Grandpa talking to that smart feller alot!

Grandpa rolled his own cigarettes. He used Prince Albert tobacco which came in thin red cans. He also saved watermelon seeds from year to year and stored the seeds in empty Prince Albert cans. One year when he was older and his eyesight wasn't as good as in his younger days, he grabbed the wrong can and rolled a cigarette using watermelon seeds. He didn't notice what he had done until he tried to light up. He was probably too busy talking to that smart feller to notice the difference in texture between tobacco and watermelon seeds. I can still hear him telling that story on himself. He had a big, booming laugh that encompassed his whole body.

Grandma died in 1987. She and Grandpa had been married over 60 years. In February of 1988, on Grandpa's 88th birthday, he decided he wanted to fly out to visit with me in Salisbury, Maryland. He had never been on a plane before!! Mom and Grandpa arrived in Salisbury with the remnants of a large birthday cake. The flight crew had surprised Grandpa with a little birthday celebration on the plane. Grandpa was also proudly sporting Captain's wings pinned to his lapel. During their visit, I took Mom and Grandpa to Chincoteague which is where the picture above was taken. That was Grandpa's first and only view of the ocean.

Grandpa could be stern and bit gruff. Some of my cousins were afraid of him, but I never was. Underneath the bluster he was just......my Grandpa. He told great stories, bought me Pepsi's and Moon Pie's and helped me break up the ground and plant my first garden when he was ninety-one years old. He led a rich and full life and he really was a very smart feller.