More From Ken Claar

We were in Oklahoma, where I was attending a class at the FAA Academy, when we realized it was grandma’s 90^th birthday. So we packed the kids in the car and drove up to the little town in Nebraska where she lived. When we arrived there, we realized we didn’t know her address or phone number. I stopped in at the post office and asked the clerk if she could tell us where Jennie Claar lived. She shook her head and said, “I’m sorry, sir, but we can’t give out that kind of information.” Then she thought for a minute and said, “Are you here for Jennie’s 90^th birthday?”

When I told her I was Jennie’s grandson we immediately received directions to my aunt’s house, where grandma was living. We had a nice visit, and it was the last time I ever saw her.

She and grandpa (who was no longer alive at that time) were staunch Methodists. My grandfather, who was left-handed like me, used to write me in a beautiful flowing backhand and always told me about Jesus and how I could live a Christian life. (Unfortunately, my parents weren’t Christians.)

As I look at the old-fashioned 80-year-old bookmark my grandma gave me, I remember the grandparents who prayed for me every day for years, and who certainly had a great deal to do with my salvation. Now that I am almost 90 years old myself, I hope I have the strength of faith that they both had.