LIFE'S LESSON

My grandfather, Will Coleman, was raised in Calabash. His father, Steve Coleman, moved the family from Calabash to Lumberton between 1913 and 1915 as far as I can determine. My grandfather went to work in the cotton mill in East Lumberton. With only a third grade education, he worked his way up to becoming
the head of the dye operations for all the mills in the company. In the late 30's and through the 40's he would travel to wherever the company needed help with their dye house operations. He was a straight talker and a upfront with his opinions, but in retrospect he didn't say an awful lot unless you asked. But as you will see in the following story, you didn't always have to ask!

When I was building my house on 1974 he came to visit me and wanted to see how the house was progressing. So we loaded up in the truck and down to the sight we go. I had managed to complete the outside and the inside was ready for sheetrock but currently every thing was at a standstill because of lack of funds! Or maybe I should say my perceived lack of funds. I had just bought a new Remington 1100 shotgun and knowing that my grandfather was an avid bird hunter in his younger days I brought it out from behind the seat of the truck and handed it to him . He held it in his hands, put it to his shoulder, admired it for a few seconds and handed it back."How much did you pay for it?" I told him. "How much is a sheet of sheetrock?"I told him. He looked me dead in the eye and said ,"You could have put a lot of sheetrock in that house for the price of that gun."

May we always remember and cherish the life's lessons that were taught to us by those of a greater generation!

Ronnie Coleman

July 28, 2020