From Dad . . .

Powerful Influence

I give God credit for reforming me, but some of his servants have helped me along. Buck Petty knew me before and didn’t fuss at me for sinning. Later he did say, “I’m glad you got saved and quit wrecking all those cars.” He was a body shop man; one of the best, and he’s still painting cars at age 82. He helped me become a Christian by acting like one. He was always grinning like he knew someone “in high places”.

A good musician, he taught me guitar. He was on the “Bluegrass Highway” with our singing group a few years playing mandolin. He said, “We’ll make their hair stand up and then make it lay back down.” He didn’t sing and he said, “I lost my voice crying after the doorknob when I was little. I thought it was a biscuit!” (Those old white ones).

He grew up in poverty. There were 12 in his family and he said, “There’s
not 12 pieces in a rabbit.” He grinned, “We had one old dog, but he had to make his own living. But he helped us out; when he caught a rabbit, we’d take it away from him.”

Don’t talk “hard times” with him. It proves embarrassing. One local quipped, “Yeah, we used to see the chickens through the cracks in the floor.”
Buck said, “We didn’t have any chickens!” It’s amusing to talk about the “good old days” now, but it wasn’t funny at the time.

He’s a faithful father and husband to his wife, Barbara, and has smiling children and grandchildren throughout the area. A regular at church, he went to Sunday School for 26 years without missing a day.

At the sunset of our earthly journey, we talk about going to Heaven a lot.

He says he wants us to go together. We’ll see, but one thing for sure, I wouldn’t mind riding with him.