Head and Heart: Happy Birthday Brother

Monday, September 24, 2018

Happy Birthday Brother

Gene and his beloved Pepper

He came roaring into the world on September 23, 1939. Whew. He's done a lot since that time. He finished High School. Fell in love with Charlotte. Got married in September. Worked at Fort Benning for a long time. Some time in there he built his own house. Still standing. Solid as a rock. Swimming pool and all.

Gene and family

He left Fort Benning and worked for the Post Office. Sorta retired from there after 37 years. He started doing Income Tax for a few folk. My, my he has helped so many people through the years. I kept telling him to charge more. He wouldn't. He just wanted to help people and has helped so many people through the years. Even as he has been very sick--he has helped over 500 people this year with their taxes. He gets tax forms from all over the country.

Gene and best friend Peddie

He and his great, great help-meet Charlotte have raised four children and they have 11grandchildren. I could write a whole book about her.

His battles with cancer started somewhere around 10 years ago. And he has fooled all the doctors. He has fought cancer after cancer and is still here. He has been having a hard time these last few years. But he just will not give up.

I've got a lot of memories. The times he dragged me off to Biloxi and laughed as I lost and lost. But one of my favorite memories is the trip just the two of us took to the Caribbean. Fun...fun...fun. Night after night we sat in the ship's theatre and enjoyed the karaoke as people sang on the stage. The crowd every night asked one particular man to sing. And they would yell, "Bill sing 'I Believe I could fly...' . And the crowd would grow quiet and wistful as he would sing. Night after night he would touch something deep down in all our lives. Despite who we were and whatever had happened we wanted to believe we really could make it. The singer, there in the darkness sang for us all, "I believe I could fly..."

As you turn 79 brother...Happy Birthday. Enjoy your day--you deserve some enjoyment right now. And guess what, Gene--I think the man on the stage on the ship was right: I believe you really can fly.