My Uncle Pete, my daddy, and my Uncle Bob, during WWII. Uncle Pete was in the Navy, Daddy in the Marines, and Uncle Bob in the Merchant Marines. Daddy was 15 when he joined the Marines, thus his veteran status of 3 major Pacific campaigns, including Iwo Jima, at age 18.
My mother and daddy -- not sure if this is before or after their marriage at age 17 and 18 in 1945.
Newspaper article about Daddy's service in the Pacific theater of war.
The Keeper of the Flame, Uncle Bob, with me.On our recent trip to NC for the National Center for Family Integrated Churches' Expository Preaching conference, we stopped in Charlotte to visit my Uncle Bob Harris. Uncle Bob has always been the family character. He is number 11 of 12 siblings, and always entertained the children at family gatherings with silly stories and witty sayings. We love Uncle Bob.
In his later years, he has become what I like to call the Keeper of the Flame. He has stacks of pictures and stories about our family, and he is eager to share them, so that his family heritage will not be forgotten by the coming generations.
On this trip, we stayed with him overnight and spent the next morning just enjoying all he could share with us. He and my father were just a year apart and were constant companions as they grew up on the farm. He told me a story about Daddy that I had never heard before. He said that the day for Daddy to start school came, and Daddy told my grandfather,
"If Bob isn't going to school with me (Bob was 5 and not old enough at the time), then I'm not going!"
Granddaddy Harris said, "Well, son, Bob doesn't have any lunch!"
Daddy was carrying a little brown bag, and he held it up and shook it and said, "I got a few nubbins in here -- I'll share them with him." So Uncle Bob went to school with him! Daddy had used the word "nubbins" all my life, and this was so like him to want his brother right beside him in a new situation.
Thank you, Lord, for Uncle Bob's devotion to our family and carrying on the faithfulness of many generations. God bless you, Uncle Bob.
5 comments:
Oh, that is such a precious story and sounds so much like my Grandaddy! I am so thrilled to hear that you had a nice trip and such a time with dear Uncle Bob. We appreciate you and Daddy going to that conference on behalf of our church and we benefited from what Daddy gained from it even today in his sermon.
We love you SO much my blessed Mother and Father!
Molly for
THE STRICKLENS
What a wonderful story! That sounds JUST like Grandaddy! The pictures posted are precious, they give us a peek into our forebears' lives and I hope you will post more about them and YOUR childhood!
I'm sure Uncle Bob enjoyed the fellowship with y'all and I'm so glad Daddy was able to go and learn from the preaching conference. His message was a blessing to me on Sunday, too!
Love,
Katie
Hello Grandmama!
It sounds like y'all had a wonderful time with Uncle Bob!
We are hoping to hear many of his stories, and accounts of their childhood when we visit in July. :)
We always love to visit Uncle Bob!
Love,
Sarah
I can really see the resemblance between your father and your grandkids. Sometimes you can't see that stuff if you yourself are related, but I can see it. How neat!
Petersons, thank you for visiting! And for being so observant! Yes, if you take after the Harris family, you really do look like them -- I resemble my father and his family far more than my mother's side, and several of the grandchildren do, too.
When my brother was a teen, he looked so much like my father's Marine pictures. Then again on my husband's side, the family resemblances are very strong, also! May we always bear a strong resemblance to our Heavenly Father!
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