Joseph Flowers Jr

I’m so grateful for, and will cherish the moments I got with grandpa one on one. As I recall back, especially when I was a teenager, when my family stayed in my grandparents place in Saline. In and out of the house I was, as teenagers do, running to classes at WTMC, running to meet my friends, running to get my hours in service. But sometimes I would slow down and spend a few moments with grandpa. He taught me how to take my coffee black with no sugar. He warned me not to eat the entire small green chile from the garden he had just brought in, but I was determined to prove I could do it, and he smirked and shook his head as tears streamed down the side of my face that I had crunched it on and we laughed. A few times I was called into his office and he showed me scriptures to help prevent me from some of the ‘sins youth’. (Ps. 25:7) He really cared about me. But three of my top memories are this: 1) I had once written a paper about grandpa for my English 101 class. The teacher remarked it was one of the best narrative essays he had read. It was entitled, “What Does the Hypotenuse Have to do with Anything?” In it, I shared about one evening we had on the couch together as I asked grandpa about my math homework. I wish I still had that piece now. I do remember one line saying something like “as I watched grandpa draw lines in the air with his pencil and explain it to me..” I was just in awe of this man who was so passionate about math and numbers, also that he even took the time to explain things to me. Grandpa loved to share his knowledge with anyone who asked in such an endearing way. 2) The year I came to Hawaii and announced to the family I was pregnant, and that it was planned. I remember being worried what he would think of me, would he judge me for choosing to have a child during this time so near to the end? But then he sat next to me and said with a big wide smile, “You know what you’re doing?.. You are fulfilling the Bible prophecy in Genesis 1:28…” phew-what a relief! That conversation made me feel so much better and at ease. 3) The last visit we made in Hawaii (when grandpa and grandma were still there) I asked him one evening, “Grandpa, tell me about your childhood.” I wish I could’ve taken a picture of his face. His eyes lit up. He was so excited! Quickly he got up and sat next to me at the table and asked if I wanted the full version or the edited bit- of course I told him “tell me everything.” And he did. Too bad I didn’t have a recorder so I could write his story. He unraveled everything he could about his childhood memories. I am so grateful to have asked him that when I did! So yeah, the cherished memories I have were just sitting with him and basking in his wisdom, listening to him talk passionately about whatever subject was on his mind and his deep love for people. Grandpa was truly ‘someone very precious’. (Daniel 9:23)