Thanksgiving 2013

What will you be doing tomorrow, on Thanksgiving Day 2013?

One of my all-time best Thanksgivings was in Denver in 1984, when I volunteered at Daddy Bruce's barbecue joint in Five Points. Every year "Daddy Bruce" served thousands outside his rib joint. He fed all comers, whether or not they were homeless.

The majority of those who came to eat were homeless. They brought their belongings with them, as they moved through the line. Everyone was welcome.

Some families came and could afford to pay for their meals. They just wanted to be there, to join in. Their money was refused. They were welcome, too.

"Daddy Bruce" was born Bruce Randolph on February 15, 1900, in Arkansas, according to his history as it appears on the website of the Epworth Foundation. He died in 1994.

I knew two other men who were born in 1900. J. Nevin Carson lived his entire life in Denver, before he died at about age 78. He owned a restaurant supply house in Denver, when I met him in 1972. I was in the life insurance business, and he asked me why I wanted to be his agent, saying he had outlived all his other agents. Without thinking, I said, "Well, I hope that won't be true this time." We both laughed about that. It was a privilege to know him, and I often imagined what his early life in Denver must have been like.

And my dad was born in 1900 in the mountains of Virginia. Several years ago I went through Clifton Forge, his birthplace, to get an idea of what his early life might have been like. I visited the old railroad museum to see photographs of the town and the area.

As we give thanks tomorrow, let's remember our elders and try to imagine what their early lives were like.