A Lesson from the Clowns
On Saturday during my friends getaway, we attended the 60th Annual North Carolina Gem and Mineral Festival in Spruce Pine. Wow! God put a profusion of gems and minerals in the ground. A host of people made in His image make beautiful jewelry out of them.
Because this is Spruce Pine’s 60th annual festival, 60 posters with newspaper articles about the event lined walls of the event center, one for each of the 60 years. I enjoyed watching the attendance numbers rise and seeing who special guests had been. One year the governor had attended, and one year Emmett Kelly Jr. had made an appearance.
Emmett Kelly Sr. (1898-1979) was a popular clown for over fifty years. He performed in mime as Weary Willy, a character he created first as a cartoon and that he later brought to life. Emmett Kelly Sr. was performing in Dyersburg, Tennessee, on November 13, 1923, when his son, Emmett Kelly Jr., was born. Emmett Jr. spent his early years traveling from town to town with his parents and the other circus performers. When he grew old enough to go to school, he spent the school year with his grandparents and traveled with his parents and the circus in the summers.
After high school, Emmett Jr. joined the Navy and fought in World War II. For the first fifteen years after the war, Emmett Jr. worked as an auto mechanic and on the railroad.
Emmett Kelly Sr. retired as a regular circus clown in the late 1950s, when he was about sixty years old, though he continued to perform from time to time until he died at age 83.
Emmett Sr. encouraged Emmett Jr. to follow in his footsteps and trained him to become Weary Willy. Emmett Jr. made his first public performance in 1960 at age 37. As I learned last Saturday, three years after that, he performed at the North Carolina Gem and Mineral Festival. Emmett Jr. performed twice at the White House and made television specials. Emmett Jr. performed Weary Willy for the rest of his life, too, and also died at age 83. He not only made people laugh; he also donated time to charities, raising money to help children and to help find a cure for cancer, in particular.
For decades, my Uncle Jerry has loved clowns. He has watched them, he has painted them, and eventually he became one — for local events. Here I am with my Aunt Nan and Uncle Jerry a few years ago after one of his performances.
As you train your children, I encourage you to give them time with older people who have spent their entire lives really living and who are continuing to do so.
Even to your old age I will be the same,
And even to your graying years I will bear you!
I have done it, and I will carry you;
And I will bear you and I will deliver you.
Isaiah 46:4
Can I borrow you and your hubby and have my kiddos spend time with you? Because you are an inspiring example of “really living and continuing to do so!”
Stories like Emmett Jr’s inspire me too, and cause me to wonder. His circus upbringing and long separations from dad during the school year were not traditional and ideal, and yet he grew up with strong character and made something of himself. Today, a child in that position might just as easily become “dysfunctional” or disillusioned or resent his upbringing. All that to say, kids seemed more resilient back then.