This is the second of two caches honoring the memory of my grandfather, Buddy Stephens.
My grandfather began working for Alabama Power Company soon after he graduated from high school in 1949. He married my grandmother, Jacquelyn Smitherman, in 1950. My grandfather started at the power company as part of the "line crew," the men who climbed power poles and worked on the electrical lines, hanging them and repairing them after storms. As part of the line crew, he sometimes traveled across the country to help out after major storms. He climbed the light poles at Holt High School, where his five children went to school, for many years to change bulbs at the football field. He also climbed and cut trees first as a side business, and then later as a service for family and friends. He was still climbing trees into his sixties!
Eventually, Granddaddy moved to an office job and became a manager at Alabama Power. He worked in this building on Queen City Avenue when I was a boy, and I visited him here a few times, before he took early retirement, at age 54. My grandfather was proud of the work he did at the power company, and his retirement package gave him and my grandmother a comfortable life and the opportunity to spend more time with his children (five), grandchildren (19) and great-grandchildren (15).
My grandfather passed away in 2006 at age 74. We still miss him terribly. He was a true servant leader and a man of good character. He loved to laugh and have a good time. I hardly ever remember him getting angry, but he was the kind of person that you wanted to please. Granddaddy was retired from Alabama Power for a large portion of my memory of him, yet he worked as hard, or harder, than anyone I have ever known. He taught me about working "as if for the Lord" even if you work at your own discretion. On the other hand, as I think about Granddaddy, and the vacations we took or the time we just spent together as a family, he knew how to have fun - to leave the worries of the day behind and enjoy the company of others. I think about a couple of vacations we took together as a family that went horribly wrong, and yet he and Mima made them fun and enjoyable in spite of the circumstances. What a rare quality.
Congratulations to Mia 87 for FTF!