Well into his eighties
 

Though they never had extra money* they never felt poor as long as they had a neat house* clean clothes* and enough food to Animal oil painting feed anyone who came in the front door. They worked to live* not the other way around.My favorite childhood meals were Floral oil painting at Buddy and Ollie’s* eating around a big table in their small kitchen. A typical weekend lunch* which we called dinner (the evening meal was supper)* included ham or a roast* corn bread* spinach or collard greens* mashed potatoes* sweet potatoes* peas* green beans or lima beans* fruit pie* and endless quantities of iced tea we drank in large goblet-like glasses. I felt more grown up drinking out of those big glasses. On special days we had homemade ice cream to go with the pie. When I was there early enough* I got to help prepare the meal* shelling the beans or turning the crank on the ice-cream maker. Before* during* and after dinner there was constant talk: town gossip* family goings-on* and stories* lots of them. All my kinfolks could tell a story* making simple events* encounters* and mishaps involving ordinary people come alive with drama and laughter.Buddy was the best storyteller. Landscape oil painting Like both of his sisters* he was very bright. I often wondered what he and they would have made of their lives if they had been born into my generation or my daughter’s. But there were lots of people like them back then. The guy pumping your gas might have had an IQ as high as the guy taking your tonsils out. There are still people like the Grishams in America* many of them new immigrants* which is why I tried as President to open the doors of college to all comers.Though he had a very limited education* Buddy had a fine mind and a Ph.D. in human nature* born of a lifetime of keen observation and dealing with his own demons and those of his family. Early in his marriage he had a drinking problem. One day he came home and told his wife he knew his drinking was hurting her and their family and he was never going to drink again. And he never did* for more than fifty years.Well into his eighties* Buddy could tell amazing stories highlighting the personalities of dogs he’d had five or six decades earlier. He remembered their names* their looks* their peculiar habits* how he came by them* the precise way they retrieved shot birds. Lots of people would come by his house and sit on the porch for a visit. After they left he’d have a story about them or their kids—sometimes funny* sometimes sad* usually sympathetic* always understanding.I learned a lot from the stories Nude oil painting my uncle* aunts* and grandparents told me: that no one is perfect but most people are good; that people can’t be judged only by their worst or weakest moments; that harsh judgments can make hypocrites of us all; that a lot of life is just showing up and hanging on; that laughter is often the best* and sometimes the only* response to pain. Perhaps most important* I learned that everyone has a story—of dreams and nightmares* hope and heartache* love and loss* courage and fear* sacrifice and selfishness. All my life I’ve been interested in other people’s stories. I’ve wanted to know them* understand them* feel them. When I grew up and got into politics* I always felt the main point of my work was to give people a chance to have better stories.Uncle Buddy’s story was good Seascape oil painting until the end. He got lung cancer in 1974* had a lung removed* and still lived to be ninety-one. He counseled me in my political career* and if I’d followed his advice and repealed an unpopular car-tag increase* I probably wouldn’t have lost my first gubernatorial reelection campaign in 1980. He lived to see me elected President and got a big kick out of it. After Ollie died* he kept active by going down to his daughter Falba’s donut shop and regaling a whole new generation of kids with his stories and witty observations on15