Ten Most Influential

Several months ago The Atlantic magazine had an article identifying those who were, in their opinion, the 100 most influential Americans in our history. As you can imagine, this has resulted in a ton of letters to the editor commenting on the list and offering other nominees, and while I've no energy for getting into that debate, it did get me to thinking: who are the people who've been most influential in my own life?

Trying to muster a hundred names is a bit daunting, so I narrowed it down to ten, ten people who have, in one way or another, shaped and directed my life. These are the ones who have opened new doors for me, or at least shown me where the keys and the welcome mat are, and who have left a mark on my life that's endured.

I decided to not include the most obvious people, the members of my family: a mother who loved books and valued beauty, a father who never met a stranger and always wondered what was on the other side of the next hill, children whose energy, wisdom and optimism have in turn energized me, and, above all, a wife who has shown me that "love" is both a noun and a verb and who has, quite literally, saved my life. To describe them as "influential" would be completely inadequate.

So, in no particular order, here are those who would be on my Ten Most Influential list, five this week and five the next.

Miss Lucy Jackson -- our high school choir and glee club director, music teacher, and dispenser of what she called "practical philosophy" (e.g., "you can't sing while you're chewing gum"). Stern in demeanor, gray hair straggling back into a Pentecostal bun, she was at her happiest when we were singing something other than Chuck Berry or Bo Diddley songs, and that enthusiasm rubbed off on us all, including this young-for-his-class chorister who sang the boy soprano solo in "O Holy Night" and who years later still enjoys belting out the familiar hymns.

Coach Bill Weber -- The other high school influence which has remained over these 57 years. He was our baseball coach and (as I recall) history teacher, and he introduced this undersized shortstop to the wonderful game of baseball. I was not, truth be told, all that great a player, but like Miss Jackson it was Coach Weber's enthusiasm for the game and his organized discipline that motivates me still. He was a stern but fair taskmaster, and we all worshipped the ground near which he walked.

Louis Haskell -- The gentle spoken and strong minded rector of the parish of my younger days, St. John's Church in Charleston, WV, Mr. Haskell (God forbid "Father" or "Louis") gave me encouragement to go back to college and to pursue ordination. At a low point in my life, discouraged and confused, his support and guidance was the rock I needed to build upon, and which I leaned on for many years. Mr. Haskell became for me the model of what a parish priest should be and what I hoped to become.

Bishop Wilburn C. Campbell -- Another Episcopal cleric, the Bishop of West Virginia, was frequently wrong but never in doubt. His benevolent autocratic style led me into a love/hate relationship with him, but if he had told me to swim across the Kanawha River I would have jumped in immediately. He loved the Church, not just the institution but even more the people, and adjured me never to think of "my parish" or "my people". And he turned down a professional baseball contact to go to seminary! What a guy!

Jack Kennedy -- My first, and to date only, political hero. He hit West Virginia at about the same time that I was beginning my career, and he embodied, at least for me, an inspiring combination of intelligence, urbanity, wit, dedication, and energy. Obviously I was to later on learn more that was not quite as inspiring, but at the time I enthusiastically bought into the Camelot culture. I never wore a hat and today rarely wear a hat just because JFK went bareheaded! I can still, with haunting clarity, recall exactly where I was (on the highway between Keyser and Moorefield, WV) when the news of his death came over the radio, and it provoked one of the defining and influential moments in my ministry.

To Be Continued...