In Memory of Gene

He was my big brother...oh not by blood...makes no difference though because I adopted him from the start.

You see, big brothers are made from all things and work their way into your heart.

I was ten when he married my sister...and oh I had a crush on this big man...

You know...only the kind that a ten year old can.

He could grant wishes I was soon to see...he musta known Santa personally the year I found a bicycle by the Christmas tree.  It wasn't new but I couldn't tell for my big brother had worked hard and restored it so well.

Soon they were farming...oh those years were a delight...but yanno, sometimes little sister's just can't do things right.  He'd bark at me...and I'd cry;  but he was tough and again he'd make me try...to plow the field and rake the hay but my rows would be crooked at the end of the day.

He taught me to drive a beat up old truck...standard shift...just my luck.  Turned me loose in a field, I learned in jerks 'n starts...in that rattly old truck with loose fittin' parts.  Would he regret it on one summer day when I turned a sharp corner and dumped all the hay?  I don't think so....he wasn't that way.

I learned to milk cows...and muck out the gutter...sometimes I didn't like my big brother. 

Then I grew older...watched his family grow… and grew with them all and learned things I should know.  It wasn't so much the things he said...just the way that he lived, the life that he led.

No one is perfect...not even big brothers, not even Dads or husbands ‘n others.   But in this little sister’s eyes he was close as can be, a rock in my life…a hero to me.

Before I end this story in rhyme, I must tell you how Gene spent the most important time.  That would be in his Bible and much time in prayer…he spent time with God and it was there…

He lifted me up and never forgot me…his dedication often brought me to home in my travels on treacherous ground; his praying with others would turn me around.

He was steadfast, my rock…this big brother of mine, kept safe in his prayers so much of the time.  And I know this won’t change now that he’s home…a day won’t go by as I continue to roam

thru life’s twists and turns, thru good times and bad, prosperous, lean, happy or sad….

In all of these things, I’ll know that he’s there, keeping me safe as he lifts me in prayer.

I’ll miss this big brother but I’m glad that he’s free and he’ll be by Heaven’s gate to welcome you and me.

Bonnie L. David

July 2009

In memory of my brother-in-law, Gene who went home to be with the Lord on July 3, 2009