Marvelous Monday Appreciating Parents

I have posted before about my wonderful parents. A meeting with old friends last night made me think about them again. Mladen & Dragica Jovanovic, missionaries to Croatia, remembered them as encouragers and "parents".

Pop began the last weeks of his life 5 years ago this week, so he has been on my mind. He was an amazing man. He lived enough life for at least 5 people.
1. He was a very successful businessman. He owned an oilfield-hauling truck line. I cannot quote the statistics but it was something like...He started with 5 broken down trucks and sold the company during the oil boom with many trucks hauling all over the country.

 

2. He was a community leader. He served on the Friendswood school board for 25 years. He was on the city council for one term. My parents developed the first subdivision in Friendswood. He was active in helping the small community to become a thriving city.

3. He was a church leader. He served as an elder in the church for many years. He and my mother started the church of Christ in Friendswood in 1967. They counseled many people in many ways over the years. They began the Protestant expression of Marriage Encounter. They traveled the world visiting and encouraging missionaries, including the Jovanovices.

4. He was a sports fan. He went to all Friendswood varsity football games. When my brothers played, he went to their games also. He always had tickets to the Texas Longhorn football games. We still enjoy these tickets. He had season tickets to the Houston Oilers until they moved to Tennessee. He believed that the television and radio were made for sports and news only.

5. He was a loving and generous parent.  I, of course, did not appreciate him when I was a child. He made me work and follow rules and do what he said. I had to go to church and make good grades in school. We took marathon vacations, traveling the U.S. for 2 weeks every summer. All I wanted to do was just lie by a pool somewhere. But we had to visit museums and historical things. Thank you Pop!

One summer I worked for him at Atlas Truck Line. That experience gave me a new insight into my dad. He was respected and revered. That man in the corner office was never too good to come out and work side by side in the pipe yard to get the job done.

Now I am attending the church that they began. I lived in Orange for 35 years but returned in 2008. I am learning even more about my parents. They have influenced so many people here in Friendswood and around the world.

Last November when I participated in the art contest for the city of Friendswood, the names of K and Esther Speck came up many times.

Last night I took my mother with me to the gathering at church. She is almost 90 years old and declining quickly. She has not been able to attend church for several months.  That meeting was for the missionaries, but my mother was the center of attention. She is a true lady and the matriarch of those followers of Christ.

Thank you God for giving me such wonderful parents.