Two Friends Meet Along a Gravel Road
Well . . . I hope you don’t mind waiting another day to read about Shiloh. Today I want to tell you more about the Hagy family. I learned this story from a framed watercolor portrait and typed story hanging on the wall near the entrance inside Hagy’s Catfish Hotel.
Around 1920, several years before Norvin Hagy got into the restaurant business, he was working as a traveling salesman. One day, as he drove along on a gravel road, he came upon Garfield Luster, a young African American. Luster had been working for a family who mistreated him, and he had decided to flee from them. Norvin Hagy offered him a ride.
Upon hearing Luster’s story, Hagy invited Luster to come and live on his family farm and help take care of Hagy’s elderly parents, Frank and Mary Hagy. The Hagy family lived beside the Shiloh battlefield. Frank Hagy remembered the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh. He had been just 13 years old when the battle raged near his home.
Garfield Luster and the Hagy family became close as Luster continued to work for and live on their farm. He performed chores around the house and took care of four generations. His favorite job was taking care of the children, whom he loved and cared for as if they were his own. Luster entertained the children with tales of Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox and by dressing up as a funny character. His speech was full of southernisms. The five sayings the story listed were all part of my childhood, too:
- Slow as molasses.
- Dead as a doornail.
- Hot as blue blazes.
- Sharp as a tack.
- Strong as an ox.
The Hagy children remember Luster as a positive man who rarely talked about his unhappy childhood. His life with the Hagy family was long and joyful, though he was never quite the same after the death of his dear friend Norvin Hagy in 1960. He became seriously ill himself in 1961. Norvin’s namesake, Norvin Hagy Jr., and Norvin Jr.’s wife took Luster to Mississippi to visit some of his relatives. Garfield Luster’s funeral was held a few weeks later at his church.
Today the Hagy family continues to remember Garfield Luster lovingly. They are grateful for the way he took them into his heart and made their lives rich. One of them painted the watercolor picture of their friend. The family hung that picture and his story prominently in Hagy’s Catfish Hotel.
Pay to all what is due them:
tax to whom tax is due;
custom to whom custom;
respect to whom respect;
honor to whom honor.
Romans 13:7