We Never Know Where Life May Take Us

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Posted by: Steve Hardwick
Date: Jun 18 2021 12:44 AM

“Life May Lead Us To Different Roads,
Meeting New People
And Learning New Things.
But One Thing Is For Sure
I’ll Never Forget The Road
That Led Me Here”

I have a very special story I want to share with all of you.

A story that needs to be passed down to future generations.

So let me begin...

Not in a million years did I ever think that I would be so blessed to travel a road that led me to total strangers that I now love and consider my very dear friends.

For many years I had heard the gut wrenching story about Wesley Johnson from Tumbleton, Alabama.

Wesley was 18 or 19 years old.
A young athletic and outgoing black teenager who’s family worked and lived on John Harper Oates land as sharecroppers.

Wesley loved playing baseball with his relatives and friends in a field belonging to Oates.

On February 2, 1937....Wesley Johnson wouldn’t be playing baseball with his friends...nor would he be coming home to eat dinner with his brothers and his loving mother and father...Bell Johnson and Lee Johnson.

On February 2 of 1937...Wesley Johnson would never be seen alive again.

On that day Wesley was wrongfully accused of a crime he didn’t commit. He was arrested by Sheriff Corbitt after John Harper Oates refused to turn Wesley over to an angry mob of approximately 50 white men carrying clubs and guns.

That night Wesley was lynched from the Abbeville jail...taken back to Tumbleton and shot multiple times before his lifeless body was left hanging from a tree limb.

For over 80 years Wesley would be buried in a unmarked grave.

But that isn’t where the road ended...for me...it was where this very special road began.

After knowing the story about Wesley I was determined to get him a headstone. Wesley didn’t deserve to be buried in a unmarked grave...no child deserves to be buried in a unmarked grave...No Child Forgotten!!!

First....How would I ever find Wesley’s living relatives?

Second...How would I ever find where Wesley was buried?

Third...How would his relatives react to a white man wanting to get Wesley a headstone?

Well God took total control of those three questions for me...

I was telling my neighbor Bobbie Craddock how I wanted to find Wesley’s grave and get him a headstone but I couldn’t find any of his relatives. Bobbie (BJ) quickly smiled and said “ I volunteer with his relative at Flowers Hospital..his name is James Johnson”

I was totally shocked..there was no doubt that God was in control of my mission.

She had James Johnson born in Tumbleton call me.

Would it surprise any of you that his first question to me was..Why?
“ Why would a white guy want to get Wes a headstone?”

I told him I don’t know why..I just knew it was something that I needed to do. The story of Wesley had bothered me ever since I first heard about it when I was a young boy.

James said he would talk it over with other family members and let me know.

A few days later James Johnson called me and said....
“The family said yes and thanked me for doing it”

So the road continued on to another total stranger...Faye Howell who would tell me where Wesley was buried. Faye is also a relative of Wesley.

So with the family’s permission...I ordered Wesley’s headstone and it would have a very fitting bible verse that Faye chose to be inscribed on it...

John 8:32
King James Version
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free

The road didn’t stop there..

No longer did I travel it alone...Now I had two very dear friends ..James Johnson and Faye Howell...total strangers to me not that long ago..who I now love very much.

God Was Still In Total Control Of My Mission!!

Thanks to James the road led me to a beautiful 97 year old lady..Marqueen Johnson who was born in Tumbleton on January 17, 1922. She was 15 years old when Wesley was murdered and she was the last living relative who knew Wesley.

I never mentioned Wesley on that wonderful day in 2019 when I had the honor of bringing Marqueen Johnson a homemade poundcake I made just for her. James went with me and we just sat and talked about whatever she wanted to talk about..I told her about the Angel Of Hope statue I did for children who were no longer with us. GOD STILL IN CONTROL!! She told me about her son Amos, who was born the same year Wesley was killed..1937, and was called to Heaven at the young age of 21 years old on January 3, 1959.

We talked about Amos not having a headstone and I told her if she would tell me a bible verse that she would want for Amos I would get a headstone for him with the verse she chose inscribed on it.

She chose.. 1 John 4:16
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

That was another God In Control special day for me.

On October 14, 2020 God wrapped His loving arms around Marqueen Johnson and took her HOME.

Sadly for me..Marqueen didn’t get to see the headstone I got today for her precious son..Amos Lee Johnson...Inscribed with the special bible verse that she chose just for him.

But wait...God is in control of my mission...of course she saw it...looking down from Heaven hopefully with a big smile on her beautiful face.

The road continued on....
Today while James and I looked at Amos’s beautiful headstone..he showed me where Wesley’s mother..( Ma) Bell Johnson was buried without a headstone.

Well by now I’m sure you’ve caught on to where the road was taking me next...

Bell Johnson born in 1896 ( Barbour County, Al ) departed this life on April 6, 1979 needed a headstone. Her headstone will be ordered next week.

But wait..remember how I kept saying God was in total control of my mission?

Well as we were walking out of the cemetery James stopped to show me his dear Mother’s headstone. I read it and looked up at James and said.....
James what does it say on your mom’s headstone?
He replied with a confused look...
“ It says her name...Nadine Johnson”
I said I know that but what is her birthday inscribed on it?
James replied ...”June 5, 1910”
I looked at him with a big smile and said James that is my bday...June 5.

James now had a very big smile on his face too...

Yes God was in total control of this mission...a mission that started 111 years ago...When James’s mother...Nadine Johnson was born on June 5th...who would later give birth to James Johnson...and years later...In 1958...Frankie Marie Hardwick would give birth to her son...Steve Hardwick...GOD’S plan for Nadine and Frankie’s children to meet 60 years later took place...
First total strangers to one another....Now best friends for the rest of our lives.

James Johnson
Faye Howell
Marqueen Johnson
I love y’all very much
Thank you for sharing this beautiful road with me

The Road Continues...Stay Tuned

-Steve Hardwick

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