Farm Fresh Memories
by Joe Potter

 I went down to The Flat Rock General Store the other afternoon to get some gas. Farlow had told me that Slim had lowered the price for regular no lead, but he didn’t tell me how much. Well he had and you have to know Slim, he had dropped the price from $2.20.9 to $2.20.4 or five tenth’s of a cent per gallon. Course that nine tenth’s of a cent thing sticks in Slim’s craw and is a whole nother story/article based on Slim’s feeling. Yes, and you guessed it, the five tenth’s of a cent per gallon is another way of expressing his protest or discontent with the situation. 

Enough about lower gas prices at The Flat Rock General Store for now. After I filled up the pick-up and went inside Bro. was standing there in Sunday go to meetin clothes. Bro. is a brother in two ways – he is the preacher at the Baptist Church and he is also Wayne Earl Watts Sr.’s full kin brother thus the name Bro. 

Bro. was telling Slim that he had been to four funerals during the week, two on this same particular day. Slim pointed out that for the past four days in the local paper there was an average of eighteen funerals listed for burial per day. The widow Cora noted that she had buried a cousin, a nephew and her high school classmate during the past week. Ms. Ida made mention that over the past two days her uncle had passed and that one of her college instructors had also passed. Then she made mention that Congressman Tom Bevil, Senator Howell Heflin, also that famous lawyer that had defended O.J. Simpson, Johnnie Cochran, had all passed within the span of less than a week. All three were very famous men. Congressman Bevil and Senator Heflin were both strong/powerful politicians of their day and true promoters and supporters of their native Northern Alabama region. 

Truth was the first of about ten folks in The Store to make mention that within the week following these three deaths that Pope John Paul II had also passed away after weeks of being seriously ill. Course the entire world knew of The Pope’s passing and President Bush even lead a large group from the United States to attend his funeral. During the next hour or so several other people in The Store made mention of many other local and area individuals that had passed during the last month or so. 

All this talk about local obituaries, people passing and funerals got me to thinking about others from around the Flat Rock area who had died or passed recently. I could name several names that people in our parts would know but there is one that I considered a true friend and a very special individual. He touched many people/persons lives in and about North Alabama. The strange thing about this individual’s passing is that I was making some notes for another story about influences in my life and I had put him on that list for the other story just a day or two before he died. That person was Reverend Elmer Fowler; he was a native of Red Bay, Alabama, but he served the people of Lawrence County for many years as Baptist Preacher and Associational Missionary. I believe him to be a true man of God. 

I wrote about him in my book “FARM FRESH MEMORIES” because of the first time I ever met Brother Fowler and the example that he set for me that day. The title of the short story in my book was entiled “How Tall Or You?” Brother Fowler was short, only about five three in height. But, on many occasions I have asked myself if I would ever in my lifetime be as tall as him. Meaning by this, could I ever possess the character, humbleness and example to others that he always did during his entire life and throughout any situation. Brother Fowler was a truly special person in my book and he will always be on my list of special positive examples. 

As Bro. started out the door at The Store that afternoon, he said, “Ya’ll all need to remember that verse ‘It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment.’” That made me think of one of my own personal quotes, “Life is short, you may want to change teams.” 

Just as Bro. exited The Store, Estelle, Truth’s wife entered. She told Truth to pay Slim for her gas, $23.58, and at that moment she turned to Slim and thanked him for the five tenth’s cent decrease in the gas price with an almost joking laugh. Slim responded, “Come back Friday, it’s going down again, ‘bout two tenths of a cent,” and then he returned the laugh. That’s just the way things are down at The Flat Rock General Store – everybody has a sense of humor, some days it’s just the thing to get you through. 

REMEMBER YOUR HERITAGE!!! ALWAYS THINK GOOD MEMORIES!!! JOE 

Joe Potter is a former vocational agriculture teacher, FFA advisor, retired county agent (Colbert County) for Auburn University and is currently regional sales manager for the Wax Company of Amory, Mississippi. Additionally, he is still involved in C.C. Potter family farm at Flat Rock, the farm where he grew up. He is also a humorist, poet, speaker, writer and a true Southern farm boy/ag man. His book, Farm Fresh Memories, is available for $15.00 plus shipping, order by phone at 256-332-0676 or email joepotter50@msn.com.