A Pillar In A Small Place

A Pillar in a Small Place

My uncle Dalton died in Abilene, Texas, but his life was firmly rooted in two smaller towns an hour or so away: Ballinger and Norton. In Ballinger, he married my mother’s oldest sister and lived with her for fifty-two years. In Norton he farmed and owned and operated a cotton gin where other farmers from miles around brought the cotton from their own fields to be ginned and baled.

Both tiny towns are even smaller now; few of my aunt and uncle’s old friends remain, and the gin was sold two decades ago. At the end of their life of love and family and friends, of cloud watching and domino shuffling, of dinners “in town,” of grandkids and fishing and hymn singing on Sunday, they shared a twelve-by-twelve room in a nursing home with two twin beds and a linoleum floor. Their “home” got small. But their hearts never did.

On the Saturday my uncle’s small town said its good-byes and buried him, the people he loved who loved him back were there. They filled a funeral home reception area to overflowing at visitation time and stood unmoving before a video screen that flashed old photographs, watching wordlessly as it cycled again and again. My uncle was strong. He was able to carry a lot, and he did. I am certain he carried all of us in his heart until the day he died.

As we drove away from my aunt and uncle’s former home in one final caravan to the church, his neighbors stood on their front porches like soldiers at attention and silently watched until we passed. At his service, those gathered nodded their heads to “Amazing Grace” and recited together the Twenty-third Psalm. At his graveside, they sowed the words to the Lord’s Prayer out into the hot West Texas wind, then slowly walked away.

My Uncle D. was a pillar in a small place. His name wasn’t known far and wide, but his impact was deep and strong. I am the grateful recipient of the overflow of goodness and joy that streams from a small life well lived. May I leave so much behind!

Let love and faithfulness never leave you. . . . Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

Proverbs 3:3-4, NIV