A neat story of compassion from Gene about the late great
Billy Graham
From: Gene Hall
Date: 2/21/2018 4:32:22 PM
To: Gene Hall
Subject: Personal With Billy Graham
Billy Graham went home today. There must be one of
the biggest celebrations in the history of Heaven going on now. I was 15 years
old in the Summer of 1950 when, on a Sunday afternoon, my family took my
younger brother and me from our home in Asheville to Ridgecrest to here Billy
preach. He was already a national figure, because his scheduled 3 week Los
Angeles Crusade ran for 8 weeks in 1949, and William Randolph Hearst sent a
telegram to all his newspapers that said, “puff Graham.”
I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Graham twice. The first
time was in 1967 on the golf course at Tryall in Montego Bay, Jamaica. I was
with a foursome, and my ex Delta pilot roommate, Jimmy was the head Golf
Professional at Tryall. (That’s a whole another story, because I played lots of
golf with Jim, and I never saw him break 90. However, he was an excellent
salesman.) The following is from a blog I sent to my Delta Air Lines
retiree mailing list, years ago:
“.....and when we checked in at the pro shop, we were
told that Jimmy was giving a lesson on the practice range. I found him
there giving a golf lesson to Billy Graham. Adam Gimble of department
store fame was waiting for the next lesson. Jimmy introduced me to both
of them, and we chatted for a couple of minutes....
.....On Sunday, August 25, 1968 I was flying Atlanta –
Chicago O’Hare with a stop at Louisville. On letdown to Louisville, our
horizontal stabilizer motor failed. Louisville didn’t have jet ways, and
we parked between a concourse and a house trailer that was being used as the
temporary passenger lounge for the fixed base operator while construction was
going on in the private airplane hangar.
The gate agent came on board to
tell the flight attendants that we had a celebrity passenger getting on.
He told us it was Billy Graham who was going to Chicago to give the
invocation at the opening of the Democratic National Convention the next day.
I informed the agent that we would probably have a significant delay.
It was unlikely that the stabilizer motor could be repaired, and we
probably would need to get a new one on the next flight from Atlanta. He
told me that Billy was standing in the concourse wearing a straw hat and sun
glasses, and he had not been recognized.
I went in and introduced myself, and with no hesitation
he informed me, ‘that we had met the year before on the golf course in Jamaica.’
He and I had a two and one half hour conversation before he retired to the FBO
lounge, about one hundred yards from where we were parked.
Breakfast was being served, and there was plenty for the
crew. One of the flight attendants came up (I think they were not called
stewardesses anymore) about the time I was being served, and told me about a
standby military half fare passenger who was going to be bumped. He had a
new baby that he had never seen, and he had already spent two days traveling
from Panama. She was distressed about his situation, and asked if I
couldn’t do something to help him. I told her that of course I could, I
was the captain, and I would take care of it just as soon as I finished my
breakfast.
Dr. Graham had called for a Lear Jet from Executive Jet
Aviation in Columbus. That is the company now known as Net Jets.
His associate, Grady Wilson was the only person with him, so I knew there
was room on the Lear. I walked over to the lounge and asked Billy if
there was extra room on the plane, and he said yes, and jokingly offered me a
seat. I explained the situation, and he was happy to help. I don’t
remember the soldier’s name; I will call him Corporal Smith. I told
Corporal Smith that I had alternate transportation for him, but I didn’t tell
him who it was with or what kind of plane. He walked across the ramp with
me and I introduced him to Billy and Grady, and asked him if he would mind
riding to Chicago with them in their Lear Jet. To say he was speechless
is an understatement. Billy asked him where he lived, and Corporal Smith
said he lived about half way between Chicago and Milwaukee and would take a bus
to the train station from ORD. Billy explained that the Yippies were
demonstrating in Chicago and the local buses and taxis were on strike, but that
was not a problem, because ‘a local businessman was meeting their flight with a
large limousine, and they would drop him off at the train station.’ Corporal
Smith’s duffle bag was already at ORD, and Delta ops took it over to Butler
Aviation for him. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when that
soldier told his family how he got home.
Dr. Graham asked for the address to write a good letter
about the incident, and I told him I had dozens of good letters in my file, and
rather than a letter, how about one of his autographed books. He sent a
book and a nice letter to me.”
This was 9 years before I became a believer, and I wasn’t
at all interested in reading Christian books. I never got around to reading
Billy’s book, and it has disappeared from my book shelf. The person who
borrowed it, and forgot to bring it back is probably on this mailing list. If
you have ever been to my home, and if you have any of Billy Graham’s books,
check the inside front cover, and if you find a personal note to Gene, from
Billy Graham....bring it back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Full post disclaimer in left column. PCN Home Page is located at: http://pcn.homestead.com/home01.html
No comments:
Post a Comment