My future husband and I hadn’t been dating for long before he started talking about Uncle Harold, his mother’s older brother.
Uncle Harold lived in the Idaho mountains.
Uncle Harold was a World War 2 pilot.
Uncle Harold had bowed legs.
Uncle Harold had an amazing singing voice.
Uncle Harold.
Uncle Harold.
Uncle Harold.
Before meeting Uncle Harold for the first time, I wondered how any man could live up to such hero worship. But after meeting him, I better understood my boyfriend (and his mother Elsie’s) opinion of him. Uncle Harold was, and still is, a remarkable man.
In the past few weeks, I’ve come to know him better through his most recent book, The Preacher’s Kid. Its pages chronicle Harold’s life from his early remembrances until shortly before he enlisted to serve in World War 2. (He’s recorded that story in a previous book, Yes Sir, No Sir.)
I don’t want to give away the good stuff about Harold’s childhood in two small Kansas towns, Clayton and Norway. Or the summers and one school year spent living with his Uncle Ross and Aunt Alma near Hope, Idaho. But, I do want to share a few conclusions drawn from reading about his childhood exploits in the the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s Great Depression years:
- It is a miracle that Uncle Harold is still alive.
- I am very thankful never to have been Harold’s teacher.
- If Harold’s family had been Catholic instead of United Brethren, his mother, Mary Anne Walker (affectionately known as Grandma Annie to our generation) would have been nominated for sainthood.
- His Kansas Great Depression in Kansas stories are as grim as my mom’s Minnesota Great Depression stories, though they involve considerably less snow.
- Harold really did love his little sister, Elsie.
- I had never heard the story of Harold being chased by armed bank robbers before.
Okay, so the last one gave away a little of the good stuff. But, there’s plenty more. So much, that even though you don’t know Uncle Harold, you might like to read The Preacher’s Kid. It’s kind of like a movie where so many things happen to the protagonist you begin to think it’s all made up. Only this story isn’t made up. It’s true and so amazing that my opinion of Uncle Harold now matches that of my husband and my mother-in-law Elsie.
Harold Walker is a most remarkable man.
