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anything, but he proved them wrong. The very ones they thought would do well deserted their families and died years before he did.

He loved life and he lived it to its fullest. I told him when he was sick that he was a blessed man because he had two sisters that spoiled him rotten, and he had a crazy wife that continued to spoil him. We traveled a lot and did everything together. He had his time with his friends, but traveling and parties we always did together. He called himself a weekend drunk because he never drank during the week unless he was off on vacation or it was a holiday. He would leave home early in the morning on Saturday and Sunday but he was back home by early afternoon and would sleep all evening.

With him, what you saw was what you got. He had a sharp tongue and would tell you just like it was. He cussed as if it was a natural part of his speech, but always apologized if he had a slip of the tongue when talking in the presence of someone he respected. He did not like people who tried to impress others. Those were the people that tried to "keep up with the Joneses" or tried to live above their ability. He called them the "Horey Folore" and he did not associate with them.

He had a dislike for some preachers and had very little respect for them. However, he turned his life over to Christ, joined my church, and attended regularly. He paid his tithes and always gave very generously to other churches and charities. The changes that he made over the last few years of his life did not go unnoticed by his children. Nichelle told him at our 40th anniversary reception that he had really become a family man in the last few years.

One day he was looking at our last family portrait taken a few years before he became ill and asked me how could two people start together and end up with all these children. We have 5 children, 12 grandchildren, and 3 great grandchildren. One of his favorite stories to tell was if you throw a rock on top of our house children would run out forever. His favorite name for our home was "Ginny Pen". I don't know where he got that from, but he was always coming home to his "ginny pen".

During his illness, he was really blessed with love and support from his family. Before he became so sick, I would call one of the girls to stay with him if Dot and I both had a doctor's appointment or an errand to run. For those of you that know him well, you know he would have a fit. He did not want them to stay with him and he'd let us know that he did not need a babysitter. But they would not leave. He would fuss and cuss sometimes just for the heck of it so one I asked him why he did that when he knew that he did not mean a word of what he was saying. He said that he did it because he felt like that was what he was supposed to do.

James L. was admitted to the hospital on the night before Dot was to leave on her trip to Germany and he forbade me to let her know because he did not want to spoil her trip. After his conditioned worsened, Dot cut her trip to Germany with Lori short and came back home to help take care of him. He did not want to die in the hospital and we did not want him to die alone. I thank God for her because I don't know what we would have done without her.

He made peace with everything in his life. He had planned his funeral, the songs, who was to speak, what he wanted for his children, and what needed to be done to make things better for me. He was thinking and taking care of us until the end. He was ready to go and he died a most peaceful death. He just slept away. All of us were with him when he died in his own bed. His sisters (Dot and Betty), all of our children and myself.

I prayed to God for peace for him, for myself, and for our children. God heard my prayer and has granted us that peace. It has been a year and it is often very hard, but it is getting better because I remember the good things, good times, and I am so thankful to the good Lord for giving us almost 41 good years together.