On this Thankful Thursday I am grateful for the presence of Dan Easler in my life. Dan has been in my life for as long as I can remember. He and his brother, Dewey, were favorites of my parents. Dan is the son of my Great Uncle Mitch, brother of my grandmother Gossett. He has always been a very quiet person. For many years, he owned a furniture store in Spartanburg. I remember him delivering mattresses to our house in Woodruff. What I most remember, other than the wonderful Sunday afternoons at my Uncle Mitch’s, was his big canopy covered truck. In my preteen days, Dan would gather up members of the family and we would find a spot in the back of that truck for an outing in the North Carolina Mountains. Dan told me at the last family reunion that Claude, my dad, always rode up front with him. That didn’t surprise me at all. Dad was not the back of the truck type, but mother was. Dan has now lost most of his vision, but is still fiercely independent. He is a good story teller and has a deep religious faith. Occasionally you can pry a war story out of him. I wish I had spent more time with him over the years. It is my great loss that I didn’t. Dan is one of those people who exude a quiet confidence. I am grateful to have Dan Easler in my life. In the picture, Dan is the second from the left behind his brother Dewey. His sister, Barbara Easler Lee, is between my wife Carol, and my sister Jean Wallace.
Thankful Thursday is a day set aside to recognize the importance of someone to your life and to let him or her know of your gratitude. Develop an attitude of gratitude. Say Something Nice; Be a Lifter. You will be glad that you did.
