Our Family Spiritual Heritage

The first of a (hopefully) continuing series about how God has blessed our family.

back to main page    link to article about Eli Stetser

Have you ever noticed that every generation thinks they invented __________? I’ll let you fill in the blank! In fact, when I Googled the phrase “every generation thinks they invented” it found 168,000 references in .24 seconds.

          For instance, today’s teens and young adults who hunger for a radical (dare I say “Extreme”?) relationship with God tend to forget entirely (or simply discount) my generation’s “Jesus Movement”.

          In my life, I know that those of us who ‘came of age’ in the USA in the 60’s and 70’s felt like we had single-handedly changed race relationships, among other things.

          In the last year I have discovered two very interesting things about my own heritage that helps me understand that perhaps we weren’t as ground-breaking as we thought we were!

          I discovered the first part in March of 2003 as I spent some time with my father, Lynn, while on vacation in Florida. He told me some stories about life before I was born that I had never heard before.

          It seems that my Dad was a sub-foreman at the New York Shipbuilding Corp. in Camden NJ during WW2.  He worked on ships like the Montpelier, Kitty Hawk and the Independence in the period of 1942-44.

            Dad’s older brother (my Uncle Edwin) also worked there and was known as “The Preacher”. Dad was known as “The Kid”.  That nickname came from the fact that, although he was only 23 years old, he had 60 men under him.

          One of the responsibilities of the job was to recommend when the electricians moved up to second class, first class, etc.  This was very important because their position affected their status, pay, etc.

          One day Dad’s boss, Al Roberts, asked him who he was recommending to be moved up from 2^nd class to 1^st class.  After a moment to reflect, Dad named Herman Scott.  Startled, Al said “are you sure?” When Dad said he was, Al asked “would you stake your job on him?”

          Al’s surprise stemmed from the fact that among 2100 electricians, only 400 were 1^st class. All were “white”.  Herman Scott was black.  Mr. Scott became the first black man to make Electrician 1^st Class because my Dad, in his humble way, felt he was ‘the man for the job’.

          In my teen years I met my best friend Casper; a friend who shared so many

things with me that we started calling each other “Twin”.  Through my friendship

with Casper and my response to what I saw in society, I found myself drawn to

black culture and racial reconciliation (what we might call "diversity" today) more

and more.

            I have had many opportunities in the next 30 years to express my opinions

and make a stand for racial equality; I think I ‘stepped up’ each time and am proud

of the stands I took. These included making people aware of how their comments

were racist; often I tried to use humor, but there was a memorable time in Ocean

City, NJ when Twin and I 'put the fear of God' into two racist deliverymen ... but that's

another story!) In all of this, with all my occasional bluster and self righteousness I

doubt I ever made as significant a difference in the life of an individual or family as my Dad did in his humble way.

          The second thing I discovered about my family heritage I discovered just recently. I got a chance to see some of my family tree that I had never seen before, including that my great-grandfather was Eli Stetser and that there             was another Eli Stetser who might have been my Dad’s uncle or cousin.

          What surprised me most was a copy of a Trenton newspaper from 1913. In this article, I         read that this Eli Stetser, serving as a Deputy Keeper at the State Prison, was shot and killed during a prison escape.  I was impressed when I read that, although he had been shot in the chest, he managed to shoot both of the prisoners who had attacked him before he passed out.   The interesting thing to me is that both of the criminals were black.

          I know families who have allowed a single negative experience with a rude person of another race affect their dealings with others of that race for the rest of their lives. But I was proud to realize that, although this tragic incident had to have impacted my family, it had no long-lasting effect (apparently).

          I praise God for the legacy and Godly example passed down to me. It is my desire to pass it on to my children.

   "Twins" in 1989