Papaw's story.aup3 (V5).wav (V6) FINAL VERSION.

In 1990, the speaker's son was going to have to change schools after 9th grade. They considered Baylor and McCauley and decided to move to Chattanooga so the son could attend Baylor. This move had a profound impact on their lives, leading to new opportunities, business success, and a close-knit family. The speaker encourages taking risks and not letting fear hold you back. Ultimately, the move to Chattanooga was the best decision they ever made. In 1990, Winn was in the 8th grade, and our school in Mississippi only went through the 9th grade, so once he finished the 9th grade, he was going to have to go to a different school. And we started at other schools and other opportunities because we knew he wasn't going to be able to stay at our little school. So when he was in the 8th grade, he came up to Chattanooga and looked at Baylor and McCauley and thought about trying to see if he wouldn't be a boarding student. And I got this wild idea. He didn't really want to be a boarding student, but I got this wild idea that if I got him up here and got him involved in some things, that he would like Baylor and want to be a boarding student. So he and I, when school was out, the 8th grade in spring of 1990, he and I got in the car, came to Chattanooga, and rented an apartment and got involved in Middle Valley baseball and started taking some lessons from Gene Etter. That summer, he made the All-Star team at Middle Valley. We went to the Big Disney World Series in Pensacola, Florida, and just had a great summer. Then we went back home, still undecided about Baylor and McCauley, and he started practicing football, and he was going to be the quarterback on the 9th grade football team at our little school. But I couldn't get out of my mind all the benefits of what it would be like for him to go to Baylor. So I walked in the house one day and basically told all my family, we were fixing to move to Chattanooga for one year so Wynn could go to Baylor and enroll the children in school to send them out. And when I look back at that and what a profound effect that has been on my life and all my life to Chattanooga, not knowing one soul when we came up here that spring, was probably the most profound thing that I've ever done. And it's proved to be, in my opinion, the best thing that I've ever done for lots of reasons. One is all the children and the spouses that they've met and married and the grandchildren that they've given to us, and then the business that has been developed as a result of moving out of the Mississippi Delta, which the economy was pretty depressed, and getting in the propane business up here and that business thriving and then eventually selling that business. And Wynn and I started the home building business, and it has just grown and grown and grown into just a wonderful, wonderful business. So the long-term effect of all of that is, had we never moved to Chattanooga, the family that I have, besides my wife and four children, would not be the same. I've got 13 grandchildren, but they wouldn't be this 13. And this 13 are the most precious thing that I could ever have. And then the business that we generated from being in a place like Chattanooga and the economy of Chattanooga has just been financially wonderful, and that never would have happened had we stayed in Mississippi. And what that really tells me and what I've learned from that is, don't let your fears hold you back because you don't know what's around the corner. And what I realize is what a big world it really is because I've been isolated in the Mississippi Delta most of my life. And don't allow yourself to be afraid to take risks and try to do big things. And all that being said is, it's worked out great for me, and it's had a profound effect on my life and my children's life and all the people that I'm associated with.