Encounter with a child

Recollections of my Papaw

As long ago as I can remember, my Papaw would take me to cemeteries 'cause he's a genealogist. He wanted me to appreciate the life and times of the people who lived a long time ago. Sometimes we would take a picknic basket and enjoy the quietness and enjoy the short times we had together.

Here we are at two cemeteries he used to take me to:
(L), Mt. Home Baptist Church cemetery, Burke county
and (R) St. Johns Lutheran, n. of Conover, NC

Papaw loves to take pictures. One time when we went to a cemetery, he brought his camera. He asked me to find the place in the cemetery that would make a picture to be remembered. I told him that I would decide after I had the chance to see all the grave stones. We walked through the cemetery and looked at the resting places of Confederate soldiers, city founders, rich people, and every-day families. Papaw pointed out many little gravestones with lambs and angels carved upon them. He said those were for the little children who died when they were very young.

We came to two small gravestones, each little more than a foot high.
The stone on the left was a memorial to Alvin Luecke who died before he was one year old. At the bottom of his stone, it read:

"Suffer the little children to come unto me..."

(click to enlarge)

Papaw reminded me of the familiar Sunday School lesson, where Jesus rebuked the hard hearts of the Pharisees and welcomed sinners and children (Mark 10:14).

The limestone marker on the right is that of Walter Luecke,
the brother of Alvin, who died before he was a year old.

Only then did I realize that the inscription on Walter's stone was a continuation of the inscription of the one on his brother's stone:

"...for of such is the kingdom of Heaven."

(click to enlarge)

I knew then that this was where I wanted to have our picture taken.
This would be the last day we would spend together
before I flew back to Kansas City for the new school year.

And here is a picture of me and Papaw:

Papaw & Jessica
Conover City Cemetery, Conover, NC
July 24, 2003

(If you'd like to know what Papaw found
about the Luecke family, please go here:

And here I am now with Stephen. Isn't he good looking?