Father’s Day 2021

A two-minute walk from my father’s birthplace is Piney Grove Elementary School.  The school did not start out with that name.  When it opened in 1923, the school was named the James Dial School.  The frame building consisted of six classrooms, an auditorium, and an office for the principal. Who was James Edmund Dial?  My great, great grandfather and a leader among the Native Americans in North Carolina.  A tribute given to him stated, “The memory of Mr. Dial’s untiring efforts and zeal for improved educational conditions for the Indian race will… spur us on to a nobler human service.” Yet, ask any of his descendants about him, they would likely respond, “Who?” On Father’s Day 2021, you can decide to leave lasting values to your children and grandchildren.

For me, one of the saddest verses in the Bible is :

“And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers, and there arose another generation after them who knew not the Lord nor yet the works which He had done for Israel.”

Judges 2:10

12 Children

I met my great grandmother, Mary Della, when I was a seven year old boy.  She was a 90 year old mother of six, my grandmother being one of her children.  Mary Della was the first child of James E. Dial and Betsy Locklear.  They were married on Feb. 15, 1877 in Lumberton, North Carolina. The couple settled in the Saddletree community, northwest of Lumberton, near Betsy’s parents. Together they had 12 children.  

Back in those days large families with many children were necessary for the success of a farm. James was known around Robeson County as a successful farmer. He knew how to maintain top-notch soil, using the perfect amount of fertilizer and tilling the ground often. In those days, the soil was tilled by walking behind a mule pulling a plow. He instilled a strong work ethic in his children.  They worked from “can until cain’t,” from when you can see, until you cain’t see. James and Betsy were also charter members of the Mt. Olive Baptist Church in 1883. Church life was important to the Dials and most members of the Indian community. 

Hard Work and Dedication

James E. Dial’s attitudes of hard work and dedication to his faith were passed on to my great grandmother, Mary Della.  My uncle said that she was a “go getter.” She was an independent woman who knew what she wanted and how to get it. She worked hard and never settled for anything. As the oldest daughter, she inherited part of the original farm and ran it well until she got so old it was difficult for her to get around.  She was raising a granddaughter, however, who didn’t have the same work ethic. 

In those days, there were no grocery stores, like we are used to having, and many families lost their farms “eating molasses and biscuits.”  What that meant was they would buy things on credit from a store owned by a wealthy landowner. These farmers were often illiterate and didn’t keep good records of the things they purchased. They would purchase food, plow handles, fertilizer, etc. and, sometimes, unscrupulous store owners would even charge a little extra or add things that were not purchased at all. Eventually, the farmers would run up a bill they could not afford to pay and the store owner would foreclose on their property for payment of the debt. 

This is what happened at Mary Della’s house.  My uncle recalls seeing trucks from the store pulling up to the house and unloading lots of items that he thought were luxuries.  At one point, he thought out loud, “these people must be rich.” He recalls begging his father to bail them out to keep the property in the family.  But, he wouldn’t do it; he was mad at them for “running up a bill” and losing the farm. 

Just Two Generations

So, what happened?  This reminds me of Judges 2:10; just two generations later, everything changed.  Mary Della had learned her work ethic and values from her father, but those were not passed on to her granddaughter.  On Father’s Day 2021, this got me thinking about the values that I have learned from my father, values that I should be sure to pass on to my children and grandchildren.

My father valued work. He worked hard and modeled this for me and my sister.  As the oldest son, he worked the family farm growing up. One year, his responsibilities on the farm caused him to miss enough school days that he did not pass the ninth grade and did not graduate high school.  He came to Detroit and worked 30 years, in an automotive plant, for Chrysler Corporation. After retiring from Chrysler, he worked for over 30 years as a pastor. I learned the value of hard work from watching him. I also know that God values work and self-sufficiency.  In fact, the Apostle Paul said:

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Colossians 3:23-24

Father’s Day 2021

On Father’s Day 2021, I’m thanking my day for the value of work and self-sufficiency. This is only one of the characteristics that I hope to pass on to the generations that follow me.  I believe doing so would be a grand tribute to my father and the generations before him. In a tribute to James E. Dial, Clifton Oxendine, a prominent figure in the history of the Lumbee community, described Dial in the following way:  “We should pledge ourselves somehow to ‘carry on’ what he so gloriously began in the way of being more progressive, in establishing better schools, and in other worthy lines of endeavor.”  Let not one of the saddest verses in the Bible be true of us; “there arose another generation after them who knew not the Lord nor yet the works which he had done.” 

Copyright © 2020 Chuck Locklear

Also, see The Lord’s Prayer.