Serving Generation After Generation
Ray and I went to little Livingston, Tennessee, with friends last Friday night for opening night of its annual series of Christmas celebrations. This year’s theme is Christmas in the Country. At the end of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens said of Ebenezer Scrooge:
. . . it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!
Livingston is like the reformed Mr. Scrooge. It knows how to keep Christmas well.
At the center of the Livingston square is the Livingston Courthouse with its bold “IN GOD WE TRUST” on all four sides.
On Friday, churches, banks, and other organizations surrounded the courthouse with booths.
We enjoyed hot cider, roasted peanuts, kettle corn, and chili, which were all free to all.
Around the square are a library, offices, and storefronts, including gift shops, antique stores, boutiques, and even a real small town department store and a jewelry store. I have shopped in Livingston many times, but Friday night was my first visit to the E. B. Gray jewelry store. One of its clerks surprised us with: “Here are my favorite history writers.” It was Ashley, whom I met at Notgrass History headquarters one time when we hosted a mom’s night.
When Ray bought me a pretty pair of silver earrings for my birthday, Ashley took me to a box of Christmas ornaments on the floor. I got to break one with a baseball bat to see what his discount would be.
In the back of the store, I noticed a small room with framed pictures of the store’s history.
Working that night were this mother, Suzy Taylor, and her daughter who are from the fourth and fifth generations of Gray family jewelers.
We learned that Suzy’s great-grandfather, E. B. Gray founded the store 100 years ago.
Actually, it might be 101 or 102 years ago but the oldest paper records are from 1914. The reason that Mr. Gray began the store in Livingston is that a tornado destroyed his former jewelry store in another small Tennessee town. To my surprise, that other small Tennessee town was my hometown of Ashland City.
After the tornado, he got on a train. When it stopped in Livingston, he got off and decided, “I think I will start a new store here.”
Suzy told me that the family purchased this display case in New York City in 1945, on the day when Japan surrendered, ending World War II.
Now five generations later, the Gray family is still in business. Suzy works out front and her brother works in the back. He is the jewelry repairman. Way to go, Gray family! And way to go, Suzy and your brother and your daughter! How wonderful that you are a family who can work together.
May God bless your family and ours. May five generations—and all of the other generations until Jesus comes back—serve God and the people of the world generation after generation.
Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
Psalm 145:3-4