Walker Stanley Hitchcock-My Father...(From Stan Hitchcock)

Walker Stanley Hitchcock was born in February 1911 in Linneus, Linn, Missouri, USA, the third child of Walker Nelson Hitchcock, Jr. (age 37) and Lena Pearl McAlister (age 31). He married Ruby Johnson in 1934 in Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri, USA when he was 22 and had three children, all sons, with her. Walker Stanley died on March 6, 2003 in Springfield, Greene Co, MO when he was 92.

He was a man of faith and integrity. He had an 8th grade education, yet, was the smartest man I ever knew. A Great Depression era man, who had to leave school early to go to work to help with the family, he learned early on how to "make do" and taught me that "anything worth doing, was worth doing right."

My dad was my spiritual advisor and confidant in all things.

At 90 years old, he was still climbing up into the cab of his big John Deere and baling 150 acres of fine big round bales of hay. He cut it, raked it and baled it, all without any one else helping, because he wanted it that way. It was his"special time". He kept a herd of fine black cows up until he was 90, finally selling them to a family friend who was a cattle broker.

I was separated by miles between Springfield, Mo and Nashville, TN and missed a lot of years being with him except to visit. He lost my Mother when she was only 57 years old, and never got over it. She was his sweetheart.

We talked, at length, every week on the phone. Sharing our plans, our worries and he would give me his take on whatever part of the Bible he was studying at the time.

As he reached 90, he started losing some of his mobility, and finally quit driving, calling my brother Sam when he needed to go somewhere.

At 92, all three sons, Stan, Dan and Sam were with him when he gave up his spirit and went to sleep, awaking to a homecoming with my Mother, Ruby Ann, in a heaven that he had been talking about ever since I could remember. He left, without pain and sickness, only feeling a deep fatigue. An hour before he passed, he looked up at me from his hospital bed and said, "Son, I would like to have some green olives." I went to the store and came back with a jar of them. I took off the top and started to get one out, and he said, "No, I just want the juice." So, my father went to meet Jesus with the taste of brine on his tongue, not unlike Jesus went to meet His Father with the taste of brine from the sponge the Roman guard held up to Him on the Cross, as He sighed, "It is finished."

My Father, Walker Stanley "Stan" Hitchcock, the original "Stan Hitchcock", his spirit still guides me today.

Stan