Funeral Services

A bagpiper friend of mine recently was asked by one of our local funeral directors to play at a graveside service for a homeless man.
The deceased had no family or friends, and the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery way out in our West Virgina backwoods.
The bagpiper was not familiar with the roads and soon became lost.
Arriving an hour late, neither the funeral director nor the hearse were anywhere in sight.
There only was the digging crew left, and they were taking a break to eat their lunches.
The bagpiper felt badly and apologized to the men for being late.
He then went to the graveside and looked down.
The vault lid was already in place.
Not knowing what else to do, he started to play.
The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around as the bagpiper played his heart and soul out for this man with no family and friends.
As he played "Amazing Grace", the workers wept, he wept, and they all wept together.
The bagpiper then finished, packed up his bagpipes and started for his car.
Though he was saddened that he had arrived late, he felt good about the heartfelt service that he had rendered.
Then, as he opened the door to his car, he heard one of the diggers say:
"I never seen nothin' like that before in all my born days, and I've been putting in septic tanks hereabouts for nigh unto twenty years."
The bagpiper still was lost.

Liberty vs. Licentiousness

"The Misunderstood First Amendment" by Cheryl B. Preston (BYU Studies, Volume 49, Number 1, 2010, ) is a fascinating read for anyone who has serious concerns about balancing our rights of free speech with the right to choose to protect ourselves and our children against invasive and destructive pornography.

Sent to Roy Gilleo, with Gratitude

Roy,
The long enduring and steadfast friendship of you and Nancy, as well as your family's enthusiastic advocacy of my candidacy to serve in the West Virginia Legislature, means more to me than tongue can tell.
It was a particular and unexpected pleasure for me when you and Nancy traveled to West Virginia to personally support me at the recent Berkeley County Farm Bureau Candidates' Forum.
Rest assured that I have deeply pondered every word of both your spoken and written suggestions in regard to my efforts to help my fellow West Virginians pursue a better path by "Working Together to Stay Independent".
By the way, the "A Hero's Love Story" (posted at this website) perhaps best describes the footsteps of the kind of public servant who most inspires me.
Your Pal,
Larry

Postscript: Keep visiting www.LarryKump.us for election updates, and encourage others to do the same.

cc: Other Friends

A Hero's Love Story

"Colonel Thomas L. Kane and the Mormons, 1846-1883" (BYU Studies, Volume 48, Number 4, 2009,http://byustudies.byu.edu) is a riveting read.
Although not a Latter-day Saint (LDS), Colonel Kane sacrificed much of his life for the protection of LDS liberty.
Also tucked away within the pages of this publication is the heartwarming and lifelong love story of Tom and his wife Bessie, who also was Tom's second cousin.
As a young man in his twenties, Tom had decided to remain single for all of his life.
A small and sickly man (5'4" in height and only 110 pounds in weight), Tom nevertheless had the heart of a hero.
Bessie first met Tom when she only was four years old, while he was visiting her Father.
Tom gave Bessie a china doll, and immediately won her young heart.
At age twelve, Bessie publicly declared that she intended to marry Tom.
At just three weeks shy of her seventeenth birthday, Bessie finally persuaded Tom to make her his wife, when he was thirty-one.
Neither of them ever regretted their marriage, and they endured many hardships together, remaining loving and steadfast companions during their entire marriage.
At the time of their marriage, Bessie's Dad remarked that she was young to marry, but he also observed that she couldn't have made a better choice in a husband.
Another recommended read about Thomas Kane is "Liberty to the Downtrodden", Yale University Press, 2009.

She Knows

A little girl and her mother went shopping in a large department store.
After being in the store for some time, the little girl grew tired, let go of her mother's hand, and sat down on the floor to play.
Busily shopping, the mother moved on to another department, not realizing that her little girl no longer was with her.
Belatedly, the little girl discovered that her mother was nowhere to be seen, and she started to cry.
One of the store clerks saw the girl's distress, and asked her why she was crying.
After learning that the girl was lost, the clerk took her by the hand and they went looking for her mother.
After a few minutes of fruitless searching, the clerk had an idea. She asked the little girl if she thought that her mommy would recognize her voice, and the girl quickly nodded yes.
The clerk thereupon took her to the counter and lifted her up so that she could reach the store's public address system microphone.
The clerk then told the girl to talk into the microphone, so that her mother would hear her voice and come get her.
The girl clutched the microphone close to her, and boldly said: "I would like to bear my testimony. I know the Church is true."