All
kids love to hear stories about their ancestors, and Dad was excellent
at telling them. One of the most memorable characters in the cast of my
ancestors was Christopher Columbus Boles, whom we knew as “Granddad”. We
were in a bank one day, and Dad commented that he knew the manager, and
had gotten to know him better in an odd way.
The
manager had come up to Dad one day and said, “Say, I met your grandfather
last week.” My Dad acknowledged it, a bit puzzled by its significance,
and went on to other topics, but the man would not be deterred. “No, I
mean I really found out what he was like.”
The
manager went on to recount how one of his tellers had come to him saying:
“There’s an old man here who says he owes us money. He says he couldn’t
pay some of his bills from the depression, but he wants to pay them back
now.” The manager told the teller that those debts had been written off
many years ago, and instructed him to thank the man and to tell him that
he didn’t owe the money any more.
The
teller retorted, “I already told him all that, but he insists that he pay
us back… with interest.”
The
manager went down and met Granddad, and I believe he took the money from
him. As he recounted the story to my Dad, and as my Dad recounted it to
me, the desire grew in me to be a man like C.C. Boles – a man who is honest
in all dealings with others, and who values honor and a good name more
than wealth or personal gain.
What
a great legacy to leave to your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren…
For C.C. Boles, it was worth a lot more than the money he paid back to
the bank.
(c)
2011 Ted Kennedy III
 |
Ted Kennedy is a member of the Servants
of the Word, an ecumenical brotherhood of men living single for the
Lord. He is steward and trainer for the Servants of the Word international
formation house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Ted is a vice president at
Service Brands International, a franchising company headquartered in Ann
Arbor, Michigan. |
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