Yesterday, my parents celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary. That alone is a monumental accomplishment. Both are in their eighties and are still "doing pretty well for old people." We are blessed to still have them with us. Both are children of the Great Depression. Mom was a country girl from Pickens and Dad was a linthead from Easley, growing up on Arial Mill. They met in the mill, and she worked at various ones until the 1970's. They were married just after World War 2 and Dad served in Germany in 1946. It took Mom a while to take a shine to Dad, but he knew immediately that they would get married and raise a family. Mom still doesn't buy anything that's not on sale, but Dad enjoys the freedom of being "heavy on the hip." Together they had four children; Linda, myself, my brother Tom, and my deceased baby sister Gena.
While we were little, Dad went back to school for a Bachelor's (Furman) and Master's degrees (Erskine), after getting his GED before we were born. What a powerful example that set for us as little kids. He had gotten the call to preach, and wanted to be the best preacher he could be. And preach - he did. For forty plus years, he has preached the Gospel to thousands, while Mom filled the role of preacher's wife to perfection. As preacher's kids, we were always at church and always under scrutiny. After all, we were being raised by someone who spoke for God three times a week. By the way, most of what your hear about PK's is true, but much is not. Just FYI.
Mom had a dream for Tom and me. She wanted us to go to college. To be clear, it was her dream way before it was ours. She didn't want us to have to work as hard as they did. She said later that all she accomplished was getting us in high stress jobs that threatened our health. But she worked and saved, while Dad got us up at 4:00 AM to deliver papers starting at about age 8 or 9. There was no question that we were going, and there was no question where we were going. We were going Clemson. We were raised hearing that and when the time came, we applied and thank goodness we got in. After some struggles we both graduated and went on to advanced degrees.
Tom is the city attorney for Myrtle Beach. He has two children (a College of Charleston grad) and two grandchildren. My sister Linda never got to go to college, but she is one of the smartest and best people I know. She has a heart of gold and is full of spit and vinegar. She has two children (one college grad) and five grandchildren. Gena attended Anderson College, but was killed in an auto accident. Her daughter Lani is a Virginia Commonwealth grad. One of the great blessings, among many, of being born into this family is that we learned early on about the value of faith, family, hard work, and good education. Those experiences made us what we are today.
What's does this mean to us? It means we have the same opportunities to model these attributes for our own children and grandchildren, but that's not all. We have the responsibility to model them for the children in our care here at JN Kellett. We need to give them a glimpse of what life can be like when goodness and faith and perseverance are applied to our dreams. Thanks, Mom and Dad for giving us the tools to dream big and do important work.
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