Special Memories

Hold up and keep pushing...

“I had a step-son who worked at the V.A. He was educated—a smart boy, but he didn’t have common sense. He’d overbuy all the time. His mother died and about two months before her death she came to me [I married her when he was three years old] and she says, “Willie, I tell you what, I don’t care what nobody say about you, but you been too good to me and my child. You helped raised him and you know what he is—he can make it but he won’t keep it. Will you promise me one thing before I die?” I say, “What is it?” She say, “Will you promise me that you’ll see he’ll have a roof over his head?” I say, “he’s always had one, honey.”

Two months later she passed. I’m sitting in the house, by myself and he’d come by my house to see about me. Somebody told me he was behind in his rent so I asked him. He said, “oh, I’ll catch up.”

Well I had a large back yard. He had two children and they were small and I thought, now I’m not going to marry nobody else, now’s the time for me to try and protect him. I’m gonna fix it where he can expand this property. I told him I’m gonna sell you this place for one dollar and put it in your name with a lifetime dowry, for me to live a lifetime after I sell it. Then you take it and add on to this house. He made a beautiful home out of it. Him and his wife and the children moved into it. She was young and healthy...a nice looking girl. He weighed 235 pounds, looked like he didn’t have a pain nowhere. He got sick and finally got where he couldn’t work. She was in a wreck and got her back twisted. She was 43 years old. He died and that left her with all the responsibility. She kept it up and then she died. She had two daughters, but they weren’t able to do nothing, so they owed on the property. They’d done borrowed $40,000 on the property that I had a lifetime dowry on. Folks would ask me, “Willie Brandon, is that still your house?” So I went to a lawyer and the lawyer says, now listen, if you haven’t signed no papers nowhere, then they can’t demand nothing but nobody can’t do nothing. So I lost the house. And I had worked twelve years to pay for it. And I’ve bought three since. God’s good! I didn’t give up when I lost the house. The one I worked day and night for. But I kept my word, I told her that I’d see that he lived comfortable, that he had everything he needed, up until the day that he died. That’s another blessing. I’ve had problems. I’ve been through hard problems. Life ain’t nothing but a problem. You’ll run into them. But, hold up and keep pushing."