Tag Archives: Leaving a Legacy

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His Legacy Endures

My father, Clayton Barker, would have been 102 last month. He has joined that “great cloud of witnesses” cheering us on and I often sense his presence doing just that. What a legacy of love he has left! A few months ago I received a package in the mail. It had a return address I didn’t recognize, but gradually a recent email came to my mind that asked me for my address. This message was from someone who was going through their parents’ things and came across two wooden bowls my father had turned. He always signed his name with a wood burning tool and also wrote the type of wood the bowl was made of.

The following note was enclosed when the package arrived –

“Clayton Barker was a special man. I knew him as one of my high school teachers and the operator of Holly Cove (Campground). I spent many summer vacations at Holly Cove with my parents in our pop up trailer. Some of my best memories are from Holly Cove. That was a special time – Sunday morning breakfast and church service, the pool, the little pond, nature hikes with Mr. Barker, catching snakes, lizards, turtles and frogs, hiking, buying hot dogs and marshmallows at the camp store. As a biology teacher, he taught me about the “miracle of creation”. To this day I credit him with much of my enjoyment of nature. He had the ability to describe the intricacies of God’s creation in a way that came alive.

This former student of my father’s had come across the bowls my father had given her parents and thought I would like to have them. Since we have grandchildren I can pass the bowls on to them and the bowls are greatly appreciated!

The lovely expression in the note of the impact my father had on her life made me reflect on the legacy my father left on so many others, not just on me and my brothers. He LOVED to teach. He taught high school biology for 40 years. The first 33 years were at Wheaton Central High School, the last 7 at a mission school in Taiwan. He was a seasonal naturalist in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for several summers and conducted nature hikes and evening talks about the plants and animals of the Great Smokies. He began turning wooden bowls in his 70’s and taught many others how to turn wood. He was even teaching woodturning at age 91 just before he died.

The above picture is taken with one of his great grandsons. My father is “teaching” Caleb something about the worm he just brought “Great Grandpa Barker” to see.

The greatest legacy my father left was his deep love for God and His creation his desire to walk with the Lord his entire life.

As Dad was fading away the final 3 weeks of his life here on earth (he had been teaching woodturning and was weeding the flower garden until those last weeks) he went through various tests to determine his waning strength. It was finally determined he had a fast moving lymphoma. I was with my older brother and mother at his bedside when the oncologist told him about the lymphoma. “We don’t usually recommend chemotherapy for someone at 91 years of age. Yet if you want us to pursue treatment, that is your decision. If you choose not to, do you understand what that means”

“Yes”, my Father replied, “It means I will go be with my Heavenly Father who I have walked with all these years.”

My father lived a life of faith and he died peacefully that week expressing his faith. What a gift to my Mother, my brothers, and I!

Paul wrote to Timothy in II Timothy 4: 6-8 NLT –


6 As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 8 And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

The legacy my father left endures – the greatest Father’s Day gift of all.

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Leaving a Legacy

Our daughter Hannah and I were talking last week about all the trees my father planted over the years and the legacy that he left for our family. After purchasing (with the Day family) over 100 acres on Piney Mountain Road here in Jackson County in 1960, Dad took great pleasure in planting a row of 12 different trees along the road up the mountain. Each tree he transplanted was from the property and he loved the variety. If I remember correctly, these trees included American holly, red oak, tulip poplar, dogwood, hemlock, beech, white pine, spruce, maple, walnut, red oak, and sassafras. The trees that still live are huge 63 years later!

Once, after visiting my brother and his wife in Oregon, Dad brought back a number of seedlings from a beautiful Japanese maple that grew in their yard. Each seedling was about 3 inches long and he put them in a baggie with a moistened paper towel. Dad was thrilled as those seedlings grew. We now have two of those Japanese maples that are lovely trees and turn a bright red in the fall. We gave three others to a daughter in Hickory and those trees still grace the front yard of their home. Another daughter planted one in her backyard, they have since moved to another location. When Mom and Dad moved back to Wheaton, Illinois to live in a retirement community, Dad took one of the Japanese maples from Oregon and planted it next to their patio outside their apartment. That tree started in Oregon, was transplanted in North Carolina, and then transplanted in Illinois. As far as I know it is still there. We call all these trees “Grandpa’s Japanese maples” and often recount their origins.

One of my favorite “tree” stories involving my father was shared by my older brother. It began on a trip to visit our parents in Florida…

Mitzi and I had arrived from Oregon the evening before and after breakfast, Dad took us on a walk around the park. As he always did, Dad was naming and admiring the various plants. Dad said, “I have always wanted a Royal Palm. I first saw them in Hawaii during the War and I admire their unique beauty.” I asked Dad if he could plant one here on the lot they leased to park their Airstream travel trailer. Dad said they were allowed to plant as long as they tended the plants and left all perennials when they terminated their lease. I told Dad I wanted to buy him a Royal Palm for his birthday. So the next time we went to town we stopped by a plant nursery. Dad found a beautiful palm about 8 ft. high and I could tell he admired it. Then he looked at the price and immediately started looking at the smaller trees. I asked Dad how fast Royal Palms grow. His reply came as slowly as his answer – “Very slowly”. “Dad,” I said. “You are 85 years old. If you get one of those smaller trees, you are not likely to live long enough for it to grow as tall as you. I’m getting you the bigger one.”

My father enjoyed that Royal Palm for several years and now someone else is enjoying it

Clayton Barker, my father, left a legacy of trees across this country. Many of those trees will live for many years to come. Yet some of those trees have died, some have been cut down to “make room” for something else.

My father left a greater legacy – one that is eternal. Dad’s love for his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is a legacy that will never get cut down and will never die. His children, grandchildren, and now great grandchildren who have chosen to follow Jesus as Dad, Grandpa, Great-grandpa did are a legacy that is eternal.

John 3:16

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

#In My Garden with God

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Exodus/Exit

On our father’s 90th birthday…May, 2014

Our Women’s Community Bible Study will be starting back this week. We will be studying the book of Exodus, so I have been doing a bit of background reading. Exodus is of course the story of  ancient Israel’s exodus from bondage in Egypt. It “reveals what is required of them in a relationship with God, but also what God had graciously done to make that relationship possible.” *

That is the question humans have asked since the beginning of time!

As the Living Word, the Bible tells not only the historical account of the Israeli exodus, but the parallel truth of our journey from the bondage of self and sin to the freedom of Christ’s redemption.

This will be a GOOD study!

I have also been thinking of the “exit” of my Mother to heaven three months ago. Throughout the holidays I thought of her often as memories of Christmas past were recalled. I made the caramel popcorn she always made from Grandma Barker’s recipe. I used her beautiful holly china and silverware that had been her wedding present. ( I left the table “set” for a month because it looked so pretty and reminded me of Mother.)

My brother Garry, (the middle of the three of us standing in the top picture) recently sent me the following thoughts –

“I was musing about the biblical injunction to “honor your father and mother”. When I was young I understood this to mean to obey.  Then when I had older children I saw how precious it was when they showed kindness to me and I tried to do that to mom and dad, thinking that the honoring stopped when they died.  Now I realize that one gives honor to your father and mother by living the way they taught, even when they are gone. May we cherish Christ as they did!”

What a meaningful expression of “honor”. My parents loved God and lived their lives to honor Jesus Christ. They were not perfect. Yet they loved each other, their children, and their wide circle of friends well. Mother’s notebook by her Bible had notes from the last sermon and Sunday School class she attended at College Church. At 90 she still knew she needed to remain in God’s Word and in fellowship.

I saw in my parent’s lives their pursuit of a meaningful relationship with God. I saw them struggle at times when circumstances like caring for aging parents and illness challenged their ability to “die to self”. I saw them seek God’s forgiveness and to walk in forgiveness to others.

As I study the book of Exodus, I know I will be reminded of the spiritual legacy my parents have left us. I also know I will be challenged to be set free from the bondage of sin and the idols that I allow to grab my attention. When God gave Moses the 10 commandments He said –

12 “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.              Exodus 20:12

May I honor the God of my father (and mother) by living the way they taught, by following God and being an example to future generations.

 

PS – If you are a women, and live in Jackson County, you are welcome to join our Bible study of the book of  Exodus. It is made up of women from about 15 different churches in our community. Just contact me for details.