An interesting person recently died here in Murfreesboro, a person that I regret I never had the chance of meeting. I've read about him a few times since we moved to town, and each time I am struck anew by what his life must have been like.
Mr. Willie Henry Brandon died on January 4, 2010. He was 103 years old. Stop for just a moment and reflect on that. He lived 103 years. Imagine all the things this man witnessed over the course of his life. Widespread (and now ubiquitous) electrification. The PC and the internet. The sinking of the Titanic. World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, both Iraq wars. Women's Suffrage and the Voting Rights Act of 1964. When he was born, Russia was ruled by a czar and large swaths of Africa were ruled by colonial, imperialistic governments. Theodore Roosevelt was president on the day of his birth. He was alive for the devastating 1913 tornado in Murfreesboro that destroyed downtown and for the 2009 Good Friday tornadoes that struck our city.
One fact about Mr. Brandon that I've learned from the various stories on his life is that his grandfather was sold as a slave on the Rutherford County Courthouse steps. This is the fact that I keep thinking over. There lives (until recently) a man whose grandfather was a slave and sold on our courthouse steps. What were Mr. Brandon's thoughts as he passed the Courthouse? What did he think when he started working as the Courthouse janitor at the age of 72? Did he reflect on the fact that he was now caring for a property that had witnessed such events as slavery?
Another fact that intrigues me about Mr. Brandon is that he lived a very long portion of his life (over half) dealing with the effects of Jim Crow. The very courthouse that he cared for so faithfully until he was 102 was once home to segregated water fountains and toilets. He was unable to vote until he was almost sixty. Can you imagine living over half your life with society (or at least white society) telling you that you were inferior simply due to the color of your skin? Being sent to a separate school than your neighbors? Having to leave Rutherford County in 1918 with your family to go to Illinois in the hopes of actually being able to earn a living?
I wish I had gotten the chance to meet this man. Over the course of his life he worked for a variety of Rutherford County institutions - as a cook for the Polk Hotel (site of the Suntrust Bank on Main Street now), as a cook for the City Cafe (still open on Main Street), as a cook at the Smyrna Air Force Base (closed many decades ago), at the Po Folks on Broad (also closed many years ago), and at the Courthouse, where he began his last career at the age of 72. He worked for the Courthouse until last year at the age of 102 when he could no longer work.
I find Mr. Brandon's life fascinating for many reasons. For the length of his life and the historic events he witnessed. For the hard work he performed in supporting his family. For his faithful care of the Courthouse, a landmark I try to drive past as often as possible. He sounds like a man who did what he had to do to support his family. I hope that when I die that others can say the same of me.
**I am indebted for information from The Murfreesboro Post and from http://www.rutherfordcountytn.gov/brandon/index.html for information regarding Mr. Brandon's life.**
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