Someone special

The tall man being Baptized is my Grandpa Haynes.Lee Anderson Haynes.I only knew him for a short time but quickly I learned to love him.Even at 3 years of age I knew he was a

special person.In his younger years the story goes that Grandpa was a bootlegger/moonshiner in the wilds of Alabama in what is now called the Talledega National Forest.Stories of him coming home on a wagon with croker sacks of money have been told.Another story is that one night he came home and had been shot in the mouth.A few days later while at the breakfast table the bullet fell out I'm told.How and why he had been shot I never heard.A farmer in his later years.I remember he had a small farm with cows,hogs,chickens and an old mule named Grey John.He never met a stranger I've heard always joking and teasing people.One person he didn't like and why I don't know was President Roosevelt.Peaches and cream sitting around the breakfast table I fondly remember.Sitting on the back porch with him and my aunts and uncles hearing him talk while Grandma Haynes churned butter is a memory that is so precious to me.I never had the pleasure of meeting Grandpa Smith he died when my Mom was just 5 years old.Grandpa Haynes always made me feel special and to me he was special.