The Grandfather Clock

My An Arkie's Faith column from the January 10, 2024, issue of The Polk County Pulse.

It was a cold December day in 1954 as the young couple headed north out of Tennessee on their way to Michigan. The 1949 Frazer Manhattan drove smoothly down the highway as snow started falling. Bob was proud of the Frazer he had bought and rebuilt for this trip. 

He spotted the 1949 Frazer Manhattan behind a gas station in Nashville, Tennessee, while attending college in nearby Madison, Tennessee. The Frazer had been sideswiped, and the front bumper bent, but it was only five years old, very nice, and only 100 dollars. 

The Frazer had belonged to Rod Brassfield, who performed as a comedian at The Grand Ole Opry. Rod had wrecked the Frazier, and it had been totaled. Though he was only eighteen, Bob purchased the wrecked car and rebuilt it with parts he found at a local wrecking yard. With some bodywork and some Bondo, a relatively new product at the time, along with a gallon of blue paint, it looked good, and he was proud of it.

As the road stretched out in front of Bob and his fiancé, Pat, they hoped the roads wouldn’t get any worse before they reached their destination in Eaton Rapids, Michigan. Before they got to Michigan, Bob began to hear a tic-tic-tic in the Frazier’s engine. They were relieved when they finally pulled into the driveway of Pat’s house. Bob thought the engine noise was a loose tappet, so he adjusted the valves out in the snow.

Bob felt slightly nervous about meeting Pat’s parents for the first time. What had he gotten himself into? In a couple of days, he would be married.

Bob thought about the whirlwind of activity over the past few weeks. Was he ready for this? Because of the marriage laws in Kansas, where Bob was from, he needed parental permission to marry at 18. When his mother went to the courthouse to complete the proper paperwork, they asked her for the bride’s name. Bob’s mother only knew that her name was Pat and had to return later when she learned Pat’s full name.

The wedding day, Sunday, the 19th of December, started with a ferocious snowstorm. By the time of the afternoon wedding, two feet of snow blanketed the Michigan countryside. The wedding was delayed for an hour as the preacher had difficulty getting there on the unplowed roads. But eventually, Bob and Pat were married, and their new life lay before them.

After spending a few days with Pat’s family in Michigan, the newlyweds headed for Kansas to visit Bob’s family. With only thirty dollars in their possession, they planned on traveling to Kansas and then back to Tennessee. On the way, they splurged and spent one night in a motel that cost five dollars. 

The engine was making a bad noise when the Frazer made it to Kansas. Bob determined that the number five cylinder was knocking. How were they going to get back to Tennessee? Bob removed the spark plug from the bad cylinder, and the Frazer Manhattan limped back home to Madison, Tennessee, where the newlyweds were attending college. With the help of his friend Louie, Bob dropped the pan, pulled the crankshaft, had the number five throw on the crankshaft ground to .060, installed a new bearing, and put it back together. 

A roly-poly little boy was born into the family a little over a year later, and they named him Richie. My parents celebrated their sixty-third wedding anniversary before my Momma passed away in 2018.

Daddy bought Momma a special gift for their fiftieth anniversary: a beautiful Howard Miller grandfather clock. It was one of their prized possessions. The grandfather clock now graces my living room with its stately presence.

The first Grandfather clock was produced around 1680 by a British clockmaker, William Clement. But it would be 200 years before clocks of this type would be referred to as a grandfather clock. They were called longcase clocks, and they were very popular. The name Grandfather Clock is thought to be the result of a song written in 1876 by Henry Clay Work entitled “My Grandfather’s Clock.”  

The song describes a grandfather’s clock that faithfully ticks its way through its owner’s life. Childhood, adulthood, and old age are all viewed in relationship to his beloved timepiece. The refrain says: “Ninety years without slumbering, Tick, tock, tick, tock, His life’s seconds numbering, Tick, tock, tick, tock, But it stopped, short, Never to go again, When the old man died.”

The steady ticking of the clock reminds us that our time on earth is limited. Despite the joys and pains of life, time always marches on. For the believer, our time on earth is an opportunity for gaining wisdom. The psalmist writes, “Teach us to comprehend how few our days are so that our hearts may be filled with wisdom.” Psalms 90:12 (NCB)

Time is the great equalizer. We all have the same daily twenty-four hours handed to us. “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV) Billy Graham said, “Time is the capital that God has given us to invest. People are the stocks in which we are to invest our time.”  

In Psalms 90: 2-4 (NIRV), the Bible says, “Before you created the whole world and the mountains were made, from the beginning to the end you are God. You turn human beings back to dust. You say to them, ‘Return to dust.’ To you a thousand years are like a day that has just gone by. They are like a few hours of the night.” 

But then the Psalmist contrasts God’s time with the reality of man’s life. “We live to be about 70. Or we may live to be 80, if we stay healthy. But even our best days are filled with trouble and sorrow. The years quickly pass, and we are gone.” Psalms 90:10 (NIRV)

Gentle Reader, what are you investing your time in? “Be careful how you live. Live as men who are wise and not foolish. Make the best use of your time. These are sinful days.” Ephesians 5:15,16 (NLV) Ask God to help you use your time wisely so that you won’t waste the years you have on earth.