“Pops” Austin: A Life Well Lived
WE SAID OUR FINAL GOODBYE TO MY WIFE’S DAD… YOU ALL SHOULD KNOW A LITTLE ABOUT HIM
I have always thought of him as a modern day George Bailey. Even though his bank account may never have reflected it, my father-in-law, Owings Austin, was the “richest man alive”. He was rich with joy… with life… with relationships… and with Jesus.
PawPaw or Pops (as we all call him), beat us all in the race to go see Jesus. We all would have wanted him to stick around a while longer. After all, our lives have all been made better… lighter… more free with him around. But Jesus wanted him more. So we said our goodbyes and shed lots of tears, and gave him permission to move on.
Pops was 82 years young, and was in great shape for an older guy. He walked the mall every single day for 50 minutes. He flossed his teeth religiously - I mean, come on, who does that? He had had several close bouts with what we thought might be the end, but he always bounced back, better than ever. We began to think that PawPaw would outlive us all. That he’d be one of these guys who lives until he’s like 110. But all that changed on Friday morning of August 23rd. We got a text that Pops had gotten up at his usual 4:00am time, but that he apparently had gotten partially dressed and then laid back down in his bed. At 6:30, his dear sweet bride, Brenda (or “Brender” as he’d call her) couldn’t wake him up. He was taken to the ER unresponsive. After a CT scan, it was determined that he had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke causing a very severe brain bleed. He would not wake up… he would not recover. He was moved to our amazing hospice care unit that very evening, and 5 days later he stepped into the eternity Jesus had prepared for him.
The sad part about saying goodbye to Pops is that it is so seemingly final. We won’t have him around to say goodbye or hello to anymore. But the amazing part of this journey is that because of our faith in Jesus our Savior, and the power that His resurrection brought for us, we know that this event was only a transition for Owings. That as he took in his last breath of air here on this earth, he exhaled that very breath in the presence of Jesus who loves him. Even while in hospice during the last days of his life with us, we struggled over speaking of PawPaw in the past tense, “that he WAS a great and kind and loving man”, and we had to correct ourselves because he wasn’t yet gone. But the great news is, that we still can talk about how great PawPaw IS, because the essence of who Owings is hasn’t died or gone away, but has only relocated. He has shed the earthly container called the body that was temporarily used to house his soul and spirit. And now that the earthly container is no longer of earthly use - it is laid to rest, and we say goodbye to it for the joy - oh so much joy - that it has brought all of us. But the essence of sweet PawPaw is now enjoying the benefit of the presence of Jesus in a way that was only a dream of his for so many years.
He no doubt found his twin brother, Oliver, first - who preceded Owings by a lot of years and died when they were only 15 years old. There is certainly a lot of life for them to catch up on. I feel like PawPaw didn’t waste any time in finding my dad up in heaven, who beat him by 6 years. I know he has some political talk to catch up on with Uncle Tony. Not sure the party affiliation up in heaven, but I have no doubt that there’s a debate going on up there.
At his memorial service, it was very easy to celebrate the great man that so many people loved. He had an impact on people that a lot of us didn’t even know about. He loved so well. He took SO much joy in other people. The littlest things made him so very happy…
An impromptu dinner at Cracker Barrel.
Getting a new sweater or fleece for Christmas.
Hearing any version of a southern gospel song OR something from the 50’s or 60’s.
Seeing his grand-kids do great things.
Watching westerns on TV.
Talking about watching westerns, especially ones with John Wayne.
But nothing made him more happy than seeing his friends and family learn to love Jesus more. He gave all he had to helping others. So naturally, it was easy to celebrate him. To listen to his grand-kids talk about him, and to hear his 3 daughters speak of him, it gave the word “Legacy” new meaning. He lived a life of legacy.
In 2012, Pops wrote his life story. It wasn’t very long, and was more of a non-published manuscript, but he described it as his book - his story. He had help from his closest friends in writing and editing it. Most folks never knew about the book - even his grandkids. But sitting in hospice, the family made a decision that it was time for everyone to read his story. It was why he wrote it - so that others would know and understand why he lived the way he did. So, we made some quick edits, sent it off to the printers and we published his book. He died two days before they were back from the printers. But everyone at his memorial service got a copy of “My Life Story” - an Autobiography by Owings F. Austin. He would have been so surprised. He would have been so honored. I wish I could share it with all of you - but I don’t have the author’s permission or the rights to distribute it!! I’ll have to work on that!
We are going to miss him like crazy. The next 12 months we will move through the season of “firsts” without Pops and it will be hard. We will be sad at the things we didn’t get to do with him. And then we’ll remember the things that we did get to do, see and experience. And pretty soon we’ll get to see him again, show him his book, and celebrate Jesus together.
Take care of Pops, Jesus. He gets cold easy, so keep an extra flannel ready for him. He’ll walk a lot every day, and he’ll sing every word to every southern gospel song written. It will certainly make you smile.
Pops - thanks for the life you lived and the way you loved. May we all love Jesus more because of you.
