My father's philanthropy

My Father, Lee Lavell, was a most unusual character. Some of you older people in Ekalaka knew him or of him, but I am going to tell you something about him that probably none of you knew. He just did it and never told anybody except his family about it.

Numerous times while I was growing up, Dad brought a down and out man home with him. Usually it was Barry Doby, who lived in a tiny house down a ways toward town from us. Barry Doby, I don't know if it was spelled this way or as Bary, used to get drunk once in a while and then he would pass out and fall down and be all dirty and unshaven. I don't think he has any relatives there so I can say this about him. When sober, Barry was a real nice man. He had spent a year in prison for killing a man, some say that he took the blame for someone else. I think that he got a pardon for that, I don't know why. Anyway, Dad would bring him home, actually put him in the bathtub and scrub him until he was clean. Then he would shave him while Mother would clean and dry his clothes. After all this, he would sit down to a nice meal with us and afterwards he and Dad would sit and talk before Dad would take him home.

Dad did this with many men while he was in Ekalaka. Of course, he knew all of them. Now, you would think that once we moved to Miles City where he didn't know anyone he would stop, but he didn't. He still brought down and outers home and did the same thing for them, even though he didn't know them.

I don’t think that any of us boys have inherited this gene. Charles told me that Richard, where he lives in Ohio, has done it but I don't know about any of this firsthand.

This was brought to my mind this morning when I went up our curvy, twisting mountain road. I had to go up to the Guild hall. It was pouring maybe more than cats and dogs, more like mountain lions and bears. On the way up, I saw a young man walking along with a skateboard above his head trying to keep his head dry. I am usually scared to pick up people on this road because there are a lot of tweakers around here. I had to do it; on the way back I picked him up and took him to his turnoff just a little beyond where my turnoff was. He seemed a nice young man, maybe a little dumb for skateboarding so far from home in the rain. My thought was how unfortunate it is that we are so afraid of other people, that we cannot give them basic human help.

Back to my Father; my brother Charles told me that in later years in Miles City, I was probably in the Army by that time, my Dad would say to my Mother; “Well Old lady, I have taken care of their other needs, now you can tell him about the Lord.” I don't know if this is true or not, Charles tends to stretch it sometimes. I do know that Dad didn’t claim Christianity most of his life, but in later years became a genuine born again Christian, mostly thanks to John Elvert and Andy Kingsley.

I suppose other people have done this kind of thing, but to my knowledge it is unique to my Dad, Lee Lavell.