Fred & Frances Brannen - 50 Yrs. Together!

Saturday we helped celebrate the 50th. anniversary of my oldest brother, Fred, and his wife, Frances. That seems to be a more rare kind of event these days, but there are still some who know and understand the art of living together. Oh, yes! It's an art. Some men are real artists at some of the shenanigans they pull and then the cover-ups they hatch. :) I must not give all the credit to the men, however. Some women have perfected the art also. Can I get a good hearty "Amen" men?

Someone said, "The way to be married for 50 years is to never get a divorce." Fred and Frances never did get a divorce and continued to live together through the good, the bad and the ugly. Now I really don't know their personal lives that much, but I believe there has been more good than bad and ugly. I know they have really made an impact on a lot of lives, some of which were at the celebration Saturday and gave testimony to that fact. So many people had so many nice things to say about how they have been touched by the lives of Fred & Frances. Everyone had the opportunity to say something if they wanted to, and I should have made a short speech, but by the time I realized that I had something to say, it was really too late to do it with dignity so I thought, "I'll just blog my story and let everyone read it, if they want to." What follows is true.

When I was in the 10th. grade of high school, I had the misfortune of failing my English class. I went to summer school that year in Gulfport, MS, where Fred was stationed in the United States Coast Guard. I stayed with Fred & Frances in their small, eight foot wide trailer. They were very gracious in allowing me to stay with them during that time. You know, I don't remember any time that we got mad at each other or even had any arguments. I must have really been a good kid, huh? :o) Not really!

Here I was, a teenager, away from home, and Momma and Daddy didn't know what I was doing. The trailer was parked in the Ocean Springs (I believe that's the name of it) trailer park. There was a community bath house for the men and I guess, one for the women. I had the unhealthy desire to smoke cigarettes. Yes, I was the preacher's son but some deacon's kid somewhere taught me how to smoke. Err, ah, it might have been Fred who taught me to do that in Campaign, TN. At any rate, I enjoyed going to the shower so that I could indulge myself. Now, Frances was a 'little more wiser' than I was hoping for her to be. She just knew that something fishy was going on. Well, Fred came to check on me one day and caught me puffing away. He asked me, "What do you want to do that for?"

"I don't know," I answered. "I guess for the same reason you used to want to do it."

What I want to point out is that he didn't 'chew' me out or any thing like that. Further more, a short time later Fred & Frances were going somewhere, maybe to church, I don't remember, but they wanted me to watch Frankie while they were gone. Frankie was just a baby, maybe 1 or 2 yrs. old. Frances said to me just before they left, something like, "Now, Lowell, we don't want you to leave Frankie here in the trailer by herself, so if you want to smoke just use this cup to put your cigarettes out in." You know how smooth talking Frances is. And she said it with a smile on her face. No accusations! No blame! Just loving concern. And can you believe, they are the ones who let me, some years later, preach my first revival at their church in Tellico Plains, TN. They could have impacted my life for a bad memory, but they choose to love me anyway and I know they were, and still are, praying for me.

Thank you Fred & Frances for being who you are. Janis and I both love you.

Janis and I have 16 years to go before we can celebrate our 50th. I would be 80 years old. If the Lord tarries and we reach that milestone, I hope that it will be easy for my children to find something good to say about me. They won't have any trouble finding someone who can pin accolades on Janis, but I'm a little worried about me. I will expect some grand celebration if we reach that time, so kids (Stephen, Tammy, Jennifer & Jonathan), you have 16 years to think about it.