The year was 1975. My sweet, gentle Dad had heard this song on the radio and asked me if I could find the record for him. He loved my Mama dearly and he loved this song. At the time, I was not a fan of country music – and definitely not a fan of the Statler Brothers – but I bought a tape player and the song for him (and a few others).
I watched as he listened to the sweet harmony and the words of the song…and his eyes teared up. The next thing I knew, there was a tear trailing down my cheek.
He did go to his grave loving Mama and his four daughters and all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren…four years before Mama.
I think about this song from time to time…and about Daddy’s love for and commitment to his family. I’m thankful for that legacy.
The preview photo at top was taken about 1952 at the Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
I wrote a post entitled “All Too Soon” about the photo and the years on Mamie Road here.
7 Comments
quilt32
I’m not a big country music fan but i do like the Statler Brothers and this song is one of my favorites. What a sweet memory of your father.
Lillian
Dianne
All these years later, I have developed a love for several country music artists and definitely this song by the Statler Brothers! Thanks for your sweet comment!
Dianne
Dianne
Tanna, thanks for posting this at my blogspot backup copy of this blog. I moved your wonderful comment here just to keep them together. Thanks!
Tanna at The Brick Street Bungalow July 23, 2014 at 11:12 AM
Oh, Dianne, this made me cry too… what an amazing legacy of love. You come from good root stock as my farmer family roots would say. 😉 blessings and hugs ~ tanna
ReplyDelete
mimacat
Thought I would read this and the linked story while eating lunch. Of course I had to visit you tube–and found Dailey and Vincent doing some gospel numbers I hadn’t heard–and from there to The Church Sisters.
I didn’t grow up loving country music though I heard it often on my sister’s radio. I married a country music fan of the older singers like the Statlers. We wore out several cassettes of the Statlers in the day–someone recently gave us a CD of Dailey and Vincent covering their songs. They run through my head!
Dianne
I’ll have to look up The Church Sisters. Now I like a lot of country music. I like bluegrass too. It always surprises people to find out that I like some of the old favorites as well like Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, etc. 😉
John Richardson
Dianne, it is such a treasure to see you write about such totally devoted love, of a man for his wife and family, after so many years of marriage. That is what marriage and life and love should be. We need to hear more of this. I bet your mother felt so very joyful and blessed to have a man like that. So many older couples do not have a spark any more. Obviously your parents did, and it has rubbed off on you!
Dianne
Thanks, John! My Daddy treasured us – Mama and the four of us “girls”. We were sheltered, that’s true, but we felt cherished. My parents each had a good sense of humor too – that I think I did inherit! 😉