"He ain't heavy..."

On this day in history, March 26, 1920 - Theodore James Huffingham, Jr., was born to Lonnie Burton Jones and Theodore James Huffingham.  Just 19 months later, Ted, Jr. would get a little brother - Earl Ray. This is their story.

According to the recollections of my mother, the Huffingham boys were very close.  They also had another brother, Charles, who died when he was 16 years of age, a brother, Donald, who died as a toddler.  And they had their "Sister", Gloria.  The three of them. Uncle Ted, daddy, and Aunt Gloria remained close through many trying and difficult days - days that included their mother being ill, losing their brother Charles, and their dad being diagnosed with tuberculosis in the late 40's and then their parents divorced and both remarried in a time way before people were doing that.  

I have often said that my children have a strong sibling support system.  I think I must have first seen that in the lives of my dad and his siblings as I watched them while I was growing up.

My mother tells me that it was Uncle Ted who first made fudge (something my daddy became legendary for among our family and friends).  Daddy really took care of anything he owned.  Uncle Ted drove daddy's prized possession, "Betsy" after daddy enlisted and wore it out.  Uncle Ted was drafted.  Daddy married within his faith and Uncle Ted did not.

Uncle Ted and Aunt Frankie followed some of the same steps of his parents - two boys within about 18 months; many moves, many different jobs.  One thing that was different - their lives included much alcohol and prescription drugs.  In many ways, their lives were tragic.  I cannot tell you the number of times that my parents helped them.  And I will never forget the afternoon that I heard my Uncle Ted tell my mother - "Frankie is dead".

Very sad.

And yet - we (my siblings and our cousins, Debbie and Diane) absolutely adored him.

After many, many times that he had gone for treatment to try to get sober, we saw him finally get into a Bible Study while he was living in Florence with Aunt Gloria and this time ... it worked.  Only to find out that he had developed bone cancer and he had just a short time to live.  My parents brought him and my grandmother to their home and cared for him during the last few weeks of his life.

When he died, early in the morning of March 17, 1985, our family (including my parents' 7 grandchildren) stood at his bed and sang "Jesus Loves Me" - an experience that all of us still value greatly.

It would soon be time for a grandchild #eight to be born in our family and my brother, Jonathan and his wife, Julie, could choose the date for delivery - they chose March 26.  Later, my brother, Lester and his wife, Jennifer, had a son and they named him "Theodore James Huffingham" and he is called Ted.

So what's the deal?  Why did we value Uncle Ted so much?  One reason is that Grandma Lonnie really loved him and we respected her.  One reason is that he teased us and always made us feel special.  But the biggest reason - our daddy loved him.  And he was the greatest example I know of these words, "he ain't heavy...he's my brother".