Grandpa Was An Old-Time Preacher Man
My earliest memories of my grandpa were he was so good looking. He had jet-black hair and
dark eyes. He had a gold tooth on each side and I thought he was about the most handsome
man in the whole big wide world. I loved to hear him laugh and I was fascinated with the
gold teeth. I was privileged to spend much of my summer each year with Grandpa and Grandma.
The little cottage where they lived was located in a little village called "Flat Rock".
It was near a little town called English, West Virginia. I remember every little nook
and cranny of their home, as I spent so much time there. The rooms were very large. The
bedroom I slept in had a large bed where my Aunt Edith slept and then there was a small
feather bed that was only used on special occasions. I usually slept with Aunt Edith.
I remember once when Cousin Cora spent the night with Aunt Edith, we all three slept
in the big bed and I dreamed of wetting the bed. Yeah! You guessed it. I soaked them both.
How embarrassed I was when they told it at the table the next morning. So much for maturity
among teen-agers and that is what they were. Never mind that I was just a little girl. They
all teased me and I wanted to crawl under the table. Just to imagine wetting Grandma�s pretty
clean bed, let alone saturating my aunt and cousin was more than this once little girl could
bear.
Grandpa and Grandma had a fancy poster bedroom set. The floors in the entire home were so
clean and shiny one could have eaten off of them. My grandmother was without a doubt the
cleanest woman in the world. She took cleanliness being next to Godliness literally and we
knew it. Their bedroom was always so inviting. I could just imagine sleeping in the big poster
bed.
The living room was large with a warm morning heater sitting in the corner in the wintertime.
The living room furniture was old fashioned by today�s standards ~ Grandma kept everything
covered with couch and chair covers made out of a material called Cretonne. There were big
bright flowers on the covers that matched the bright linoleum on the floor.
Psalm 25:4-7
The kitchen was huge also with a coal stove to cook with. Behind the stove was a water tank
that went almost to the ceiling that heated all the water. The kitchen table and chairs sat
in the middle of the room. What scrumptious meals my grandmother could set on that table! I
can just taste them now. She could make the lightest buttermilk biscuits I ever ate. We always
had "Cow Butter" and homemade jelly or preserves to eat with them. She nearly always fried
sausage or bacon and made eggs and gravy. Breakfast was a big part of the day. So was dish
washing later. I used to think Grandma must have used every pot and pan in the house just
because I was washing the dishes. She inspected later too and if she found one with a little
residue on it ~ Yep! You got to wash it over.
The front porch was the length of the front of the house and we spent many happy evenings
just sitting and rockin� or swingin�. We could hear the gospel music playing on the old
floor model Philco radio as we enjoyed the sunset. We would have iced tea or lemonade to
drink and maybe some cookies to snack on after supper. It was sure a good place to congregate.
Grandma had more flowers in her yard than I had ever seen. Some of my favorites were
the dahlias and hollyhocks. There were also marigolds and petunias. Grandpa had a red
cherry tree off to one side of the yard that always was tempting. I never really got
into it, but I sure wanted to. He also had beehives over by the cherry tree; of course
I stayed clear of them rascals.
The house has a full basement where I spent a lot of time in the daytime just looking through
the religious material my "Preacher Grandpa" had stored down there. The shower and bathroom was
on one side of the basement and a daybed on the other side. This was definitely my hide out
when chores were done.
Grandpa had this big old gospel tent that he put up when he went on his evangelistic
crusades. He had a big speaker mounted on the top of the old Kaiser he drove. He would
announce through the villages that revival was happening. I loved the sawdust we walked
on under the big tent and the open sides where people could walk outside and still hear
the preaching.
He was grandpa in his bib overall�s around the home place, but when he preached, he
was Preacher Keen. I was astounded even as a little girl to hear the anointed preaching
coming from this man I knew as my grandpa. He would preach and the altars would fill up
with people giving their hearts to Jesus. I was blessed to have had a role model such as
my grandpa. He didn�t talk to me a lot about the Lord; he just lived a godly life and let
me see Jesus in him.
After I grew up and moved away, Grandpa moved from the house that I had grown to love in the
little "Flat Rock" community to a big house across the river. My beloved Grandpa got very ill
while I was in California in the mid 60�s and when I went to see him, he could barely sit up on
the side of the bed. Grandma took care of him for several years prior to his death. Grandpa died
in 1969 and I lost not only my beloved grandpa but also a wonderful friend. I will always
remember that fiery preacher man who was also my grandpa. Thank God for godly men and women
who live the life where others can see Jesus in them.
Grandpa Was an Old Time Preacher Man
Mary Ann
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