{"id":18520,"date":"2026-03-11T06:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T06:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/guideposts-classics-tennessee-ernie-ford-honors-father\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:05:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:05:59","slug":"guideposts-classics-tennessee-ernie-ford-honors-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/entertainment\/music\/guideposts-classics-tennessee-ernie-ford-honors-father\/","title":{"rendered":"Guideposts Classics: Tennessee Ernie Ford Honors His Father"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was a kid our family had a rough time financially. As they say down in Bristol, Tennessee, where I grew up, we just \u201cnever seemed to get a horn that blowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad was in the postal service. He started out with a rural horse and buggy route, then graduated to town and walked his route for 17 years, most of which were pretty lean.<\/p>\n

Yet we kids never thought of ourselves as poor, because my dad had a faith so geared to appreciation and joy that we thought we were pretty near on top of the world. If he couldn\u2019t give us things<\/em>, he gave us what was a sight better, practical lessons in how to live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Celebrating<\/a>First off he\u2019d tell us: \u201cLearn to look around you, see and appreciate the bounty of God.\u201d He was talking about the world God made without any help from us. Ever since, I\u2019ve always figured that an atheist was a guy who\u2019d never been deer huntin\u2019, or blackberryin\u2019 or pea pickin\u2019.<\/p>\n

Because there\u2019s a terrific lot of beauty around and a lot else to appreciate that\u2019s for free … things we couldn\u2019t make and that we had nothing to do with putting there. Seeing this beauty and the free gifts of the earth and sky put joy in our hearts\u2013and then we had to share that too.<\/p>\n

One of Dad\u2019s favorite illustrations was to remind us of the fact that we had liberty<\/a> and the guys down in the town jail didn\u2019t. Also, that we had a lot of free music in us, pretty good music, too, because we practiced both at home and in the church choir.<\/p>\n

Then on frequent occasions we would all go down to the jail, Dad, us boys, Mother, too, and we\u2019d stand in the hall and sing\u2013folk songs, ballads, hymns, (a lot of hymns)\u2013because Dad thought they were the best for cheering people up.<\/p>\n

At other times we would load up our old car with baskets of things from our own garden and our neighbors\u2019 gardens, plus fruit and stuff my mother had canned, plus game we\u2019d bagged out hunting. Then we\u2019d drive to the edge of town where the less fortunate people lived.<\/p>\n

After we unloaded our baskets, we\u2019d sing for them.<\/p>\n

One man, who had been in the jail on one of our hymn singing nights, came \u2018round to see Dad when he got out. He allowed as how he was a vagrant, a bum, a petty thief, and a drinking man when he could afford it. But he\u2019d been attracted by the robust good cheer of our hymns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat I liked,\u201d he admitted, \u201cbut this regular religion stuff cramps your style. It keeps you from having any fun!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you believe it,\u201d roared my dad. He was six-feet-two, slender, and his enthusiasm for living had a way of vibrating in his voice. When it did, he seemed eight feet tall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy, man, God has given us all these things to enjoy! We\u2019re supposed to enjoy \u2018em. You go over-doin\u2019 things, though, and you\u2019re bound to get sick, or a hangover. But you use a little of the common sense God gave you, along with His other gifts, and you won\u2019t wear a long face. Religion is a real happy thing<\/a>!\u201d<\/p>\n

It sure was a load off that guy\u2019s mind. And he proved it was true, too, because he settled down in our town to work, and he joined the church. He had a lot of fun, too.<\/p>\n

Dad never tried to make us \u201cgood\u201d through fear. \u201cYou\u2019ll have to be good through love, or \u2018twont go more\u2019n skin deep,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Our church life was really happy too. We prayed and sang and listened to Bible readings and sermons with great fervor. And then we had socials, dances, \u2018possum hunts, hay rides, and we did all this with great fervor, too.<\/p>\n

I came by hymn singing<\/a> just naturally, the same way I came by my faith. I grew up with it. My folks made it a part of everything we did every day, and that made it personal and practical as well as natural.<\/p>\n

I married my wife, Betty, during World War II when I was a bombardier in the Air Force. When the war was over we were back in Bristol, and me with no job in sight. We decided to try California, still with no job.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t easy for a while, but neither of us lost faith in God. Nor did I lose faith in myself. I seemed to have a voice, a talent, but I had to appreciate where the talent came from, to be grateful for it, to share it\u2013and that\u2019s the way it worked out.<\/p>\n

Betty and I have two sons now: Jeff, eight, and Brion, five. Life moves so fast these days that it takes some doing to get the boys out where they see God\u2019s bounty natural-like, instead of processed and packaged at the super-market.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s got to be that way every so often if they\u2019re to get that direct, personal feeling about it. So we have a place at Clear Lake where there\u2019s lots of fish, and a ranch nearby where we raise cattle and watch things grow.<\/p>\n

Not so long ago Brion gave good evidence that he\u2019s getting that personal feeling. He was received, in a baptismal ceremony, into the First Methodist Church of North Hollywood, our present church home. The whole event impressed him, including the certificate he received giving date, church name, minister and other particulars.<\/p>\n

Reporting it later he said: \u201cI didn\u2019t cry. I stood up there real good. The minister put water on my head and, oh …\u201d suddenly his face lit up and he produced his certificate. \u201cLook, I got a letter from Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far I haven\u2019t been able to lure my dad to Hollywood; his roots in Tennessee go too deep. He\u2019s retired now after 39 years in the postal service, and has even more time to hunt and fish.<\/p>\n

He isn\u2019t much interested in the money I\u2019m making, or how many of the guest stars on my television show I call by their first name. But he wants to know, have I been to the lake? How is the farm?<\/p>\n

What he\u2019s really asking is, has \u201cgettin\u2019 me a horn that blowed\u201d made me forget what I learned from him back there in Tennessee?<\/p>\n

And I can honestly answer, no. For what he taught me has made it all possible.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For more inspiring stories, subscribe to <\/em>Guideposts<\/strong><\/a> magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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