What does it take to build a life worth talking about?

What does a life well-lived look like? In this heartfelt conversation, Troy sits down with his father — a Nashville native, veteran real estate agent, and legendary figure in the local baseball community — to reflect on a lifetime of work, family, and faith.

From growing up on the rural farmland of Smith Springs and Antioch in the 1940s and 50s, to building a real estate career that has spanned over five decades, to coaching baseball for more than 40 years and earning induction into the Nashville Baseball Hall of Fame, this is a story about what it means to show up — for your community, your clients, and your family.

In this episode, we cover:

•How Nashville has transformed from quiet farmland to one of the fastest-growing cities in America

•The evolution of real estate from one-page contracts to today’s digital marketplace

•His journey from teacher and coach to full-time real estate professional (1972)

•What earned him the “Mr. Baseball” award and a Hall of Fame induction

•The secret to a 50-plus-year marriage and raising a family rooted in tradition

•The advice he wants his 17 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren to carry forward

Whether you’re a real estate professional, a baseball fan, or simply someone who appreciates a story of integrity and purpose, this conversation will leave you inspired.

Subscribe for more stories from the people who built Nashville — one relationship at a time.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Welcome to the Heart of Donaldson Hermitage Podcast. I'm your host, Troy Charlton. I'm a real estate agent with 25 years experience here in Tennessee. On this podcast, we get to speak with amazing people and hear their stories that make this community such a special place. Today's episode is going to be a little bit different because I'm sitting down with somebody that I've known my entire life. My dad, Jackie Charlton. Dad has been a realtor for over 50 years, has done so much in the baseball world here in Nashville, was actually inducted into the Nashville Baseball Hall of Fame. So much he's done, he managed and ran our family business for so many years. Today, still manages over 40 properties in real estate around the Nashville area. But more importantly, you know, he's a father to four. He was a husband to my wonderful mother for over 40 years, a grandfather to a dozen or more, now a great-grandfather, just so much things that he has accomplished in his life that really excels him far beyond anything else. And we're going to talk about that today as well as we sit on his front porch. I've worked with my dad for over 25 years, and I truly consider him not just a mentor, but also a hero. So we wanted to record this today so that as a family we can record these and not miss his incredible insights and wisdom and knowledge, but also for the community as a whole to see who this wonderful man is. Alright, well, Dad, there's there's so much to talk about. I want to I want to cover a lot today in the time we have. But one of the unique things that I'm finding today, you know, Nashville's grown. Uh no news flash, but it's very rare that you run into somebody that's from Nashville. And not only are you from Nashville, but you've kind of been in this spot for your entire life. So I'm just kind of kind of curious from your thoughts. What was it like growing up kind of in a in the more rural side of Nashville back in the 1940s, 50s when you grew up?

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Well, of course, there's been a lot of changes. I think that uh back when I was growing up, this was in the country. It wasn't in the city. And if you wanted to go to town, you had to get in the car and drive downtown. But since then, there's been a lot of suburban, commercial, industrial, and all that moving out. But we it was a very slow pace. I mean, everybody knew everybody. Uh, you killed hogs on Thanksgiving and and all of that, and everybody took care of everybody. Uh, even your schools were community schools, and everybody knew everybody in the school. We didn't have charter schools, didn't have private schools. So it was it was community.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Yeah. So for those watching, we're in Smith Springs, which is about five miles, I guess, southeast of Donaldson Hermitage. Again, was was very farmland-ish um back back in the day. And as far as like Nashville itself, so I'm guessing from time to time y'all would go into the big city, right? Or what would cause you to go into the big city?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Yeah, normally it was only to maybe to go shopping around Christmas time, or if you wanted to go to the movie theater, that was the only thing that that was the only one around was was downtown. They didn't have the suburb, not until Donaldson built Donaldson Plaza back in about 19, well, I'm saying maybe in 1960, early 60, 19. And uh we would go there shopping sometimes because it was much closer than having to go downtown and fight parking. So it was one of the it was actually before 100 oaks.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

So the Donaldson Plaza, which is again kind of reintroducing or re-envisioning itself right now, um, kind of started or was the place to go to do stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Um bowling alley, yeah, had a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yeah, it is the bowling alley capital of the world, I think. So so from here, school days, elementary school, I'm guessing a class of how many?

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Oh, I don't know. Uh everybody in the community went to Unischool from this area, and then uh later on the middle schools went to Antioch and the high school went to Antioch. But there was a lot of um for example, my graduating class from Antioch in 1964, we had 150. But if you go back, my dad graduated from Donaldson in 1933, and they high school, they probably didn't have 25 or 30.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Yeah. I've seen a we got a picture of that, which is pretty neat. Um, so my granddad graduated from Donaldson High School. So although, and then I guess the Charlton crew migrated out this way a little bit. Did granddad have any memories of the childhood growing up in Donaldson? Anything that you can record?

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Well, the reason the reason he was growing up in Donaldson was he had an uncle. Back during the Depression, I know one year he told me the scoop buses didn't even run. So so he didn't go to school, but but he could walk to Donaldson High School where he lived on Stewartferry Pike, right across in what we used to call Cloverbottom. He could walk to school, and um he was out of 12, he was number six. He was determined to get a high school education, which was Smith Springs only went to the eighth grade then, which a lot of people that was a good education back in the 30s. But he wanted to hire and he got a job at General Shoe and went to work two days before he graduated. And he was proud of being able to do that. Of course, Ginesco uh ended up being General Shoe, Mr. Jarman, but he was he was proud to be able to get his education and and get a job.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Well, let's segue into jobs as I sit here today and think about both of us being in real estate for a long time. Um, and granddad kind of started the train, third generation real estate. And you know, I was fortunate when I got into real estate. Granddad was kind of he gave me his gold jacket, Century 21. Kind of out of the business at that time, but but a lot of people knew him. It was kind of the forefront of real estate in Nashville. Do you remember what what kind of got him into real estate?

SPEAKER_01 5:38

What was the the dad was always uh energetic and and loved to be in sales. He had been selling cemetery lots. I guess he wanted to move up to the bigger properties, and so he 1958 he got a job with Turntime Realty on Oldsville Road, which wasn't the biggest in that area at that time. They dominated. And then about three years later, he went uh with Harvey Freeman and sons, which was right in Dawson on Lebanon Road, a big company, well known. And in uh probably in 1962 or three, uh he decided just to open up his own little shop. And and he kept it that way till 1966 he hired Harold Shelton, and then I got my license in 1968. So began to to grow and and and and he just loved to be in sales. In fact, he loved selling rural property and subdivided property probably more than he did subdivision houses. And and that was good because this was a rural area.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yeah, I was gonna say this this there weren't many subdivisions out here when when he got started. And then so what I don't know if I've ever asked you, because I would dare say if you would have guessed that I would be doing real estate when I was a kid, you would probably say I doubt it. But what in your mind made you, because graduated from Antioch High School, then went to Lipscomb, graduated from Lipscomb, and then taught school for a little bit, and then all of a sudden, real estate and have been here for a long time. What kind of made that like, okay, I want to try this?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Well, I I got a job teaching school at Middleton City Christian School almost immediately after I got out of college, and it didn't pay well. So I decided I'd, you know, real estate be a gr in the summer and whatever, uh, a good opportunity. So I taught school for four years and was in real estate during those four years, and I made more in real estate and I did teach in school. So and I enjoyed that, enjoyed teaching and coaching, but it it wasn't gonna, you know, I had you and Robert, and I had little ones, and I knew it was gonna cost more to raise a family, but I couldn't do it on a teaching job, so I decided in 1972 to go full-time in real estate.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

1972. What was what was it like I when I came in in the mid-90s? This thing called the internet was was coming around. Um, I could see a little bit of what I would say the old pre-internet days of of real estate, and I won't go into that. I want to kind of hear more from from you in the 1970s. What was it like? I mean, what was your day like in selling homes? How did you get buyers and sellers? You couldn't go online and find them.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Well, we had a good sales force. We hired three or four real good agents uh in the early 70s, and we dominated the area out near Edge of the Lake. The lake was fairly new, and people were coming out, a lot of new subdivisions coming in. In fact, we dominated it so much we were not in multiple listing at that time, and people would call us and wanted to know what we had for sale down here because we weren't in multiple listing. I think in 72 or 73, we did join the board of realtors and and began put ours. But then you you all you had was a a big book that had pictures of all the properties that were for sale in different areas, and that that was that was tough for people. And then you had the homes magazine that you advertised in so people could call you, and that's probably the other fact that that we had a real strong name in the area, we were here early, and certainly that helped quite a bit.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Yeah. Open houses, was that a thing in the 70s?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Not in the early 70s. In the late 70s, it began to be more popular. Not only that, probably one of the things that I think changed the industry so much is there began to be a lot more training for agents. The border realtors began to offer classes. In 77, we joined Century 21, which had a great training program for your agents and information that they could use to get more buyers and sellers. And so that was a real, I guess you say, a pioneer time of education, which really in fact I got my GRI within my first three years, which is graduate of real estate institute, that was done by the realtor associations nationwide, and and and I tried to learn everything I could uh because it it you it gave you an advantage to know more than your competitors did on how to do certain things. And so those were things that helped get off the you know, get us off the line off the ground and and and be on the map.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Yeah. I mean, it like you said, people would come to the office to get information about houses, and it's just anybody that's bought a house in the last 20 years, you know you go to the internet. Um, but we did, when I first got into real estate, we had the book. So if you wanted a house, you wanted to know what was on the market, you had to come and see what was on the market, or you could drive every street in the world to see it that way. Um that changed when the internet uh came around. Um, what would you say as far as like a an agent today, somebody that's thinking about getting into real estate? Um, if you were to say, here's one thing that I think is critical to a new agent that's looking to break into this industry.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Well, I think it gets back for them to get educated and be learn and to learn as much as they can about real estate. Of course, it's always been uh marketing, not just marketing your properties, being able to market yourself so that people recognize you as the one that they want to use. You build a reputation, and then all of a sudden you begin to get referrals from people that you've done business with. And you teach how to grow your business by doing the right things right.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

It's um fortunately that's that's always been, I think, the the concept of the referral-based business. Do a good job, and people tend to kind of say things about you, and you don't have to pay for that kind of advertising a a whole lot. So it was always fun to see that um in the office growing up. Is there a like a a deal, a transaction, a that you remember that was just kind of one of those that this is a story I tell all the time. I can't never forget this one.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Well, I had I sold a house that I had never seen to a buyer that I'd never met. And how this came about is my at that time we were building houses in the early 70s, and my brother had mentioned to the guy that worked at one of the supply houses that if he wanted to buy a house, you needed to call me, and he did. And we talked on the phone several times, and so I finally uh just told him that, you know, whatever's for sale, I can show it to you. When he would call me on a regular basis, said, What about this house? When I'd look it up in the multiple listing, I'd tell him about it. I couldn't get him to meet me there. I I'll just drive by it if I like it. I'll I'll call you. Well, I that went on for weeks. Finally, uh one day he calls me and says, Y'all got a house for sale that over here on this street. And I said, Yeah. I said, just one that we just took in on trade. He said, Uh uh, I'll go, I'm gonna go by and I said, What time are you gonna be there? I know no, I'll just go by and look at it. If I like it, I'll call you. Well, he went by, it was vacant. The back door was open, he went and looked at it, he called me the next morning and said, I want to buy that one. I wrote up the contract of what he wanted to give for it. Back then you had a lot of non-qualifying assumption loans. And he told me what he wanted to give. I wrote it up, I took it and I went to the front desk and I asked for him. First time I'd met him, took it in there, he signed a contract, he bought the house.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

But I did go by and look at the house before I took the contract because I did want to see what I was selling. But it was one that we owned, one that we had taken in on trade.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

There's there's a lot of stories, and we we've talked a lot about when you say we took it in on trade. That it's kind of a new concept to a realtor today. What is taking it in on trade? Or or just kind of here's one of the things that would be hard for a realtor today to understand. How many pages did a contract used to be? Somebody want to buy a house, how many pages?

SPEAKER_01 13:42

The contract was a one-page contract, and technically you're supposed to give the buyer a copy. You'd better take some carbon paper with you so you can give them officially a copy of what they signed, but it was one page. There was no disclosures, no proper disclosure, no agency disclosure. By the biggest thing, they might want a termite letter, and that might have been the big that might have been required by the mortgage company, but there was just a one-page contract, almost like a handshake, you know. And back then, I I remember my granddad talking about, you know, trading with people trading cows. You just shook hands on a deal. Well, that was almost like that because it was one page, and as lawsuits developed and more people wanted more, then all of a sudden you you got all the things that's been added to it today.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah. Twenty-seven pages, I think, is about how many pages today. Um, but honestly, I can say from well, really, about everything in my life. Um, but from the standpoint of real estate, you going before me, granddad going before me, has made my my life and my real estate business easy. Um you set set a standard and did things so well that when I go somewhere and they say, you know, well, are you, do you know Otis or did you do you know Jackie? You know, I'll I quickly say yes because I know that's a plus. And I know what that means is they're they're gonna like me because the path was set and and you did things so well um that you you're just remembered in in that that field for sure. But one of the other places that you did well that I do want to talk about is is baseball. The Nashville Baseball Hall of Fame. I think you were one of the first inductees um into that Hall of Fame. And and so much of so much of your life and our life is is around baseball and and the relationships through that. But what when did you fall in love with baseball?

SPEAKER_01 15:35

I can't tell you when I fell. I just fell in love with ball. I remember my older sister one time bought a bedmint set when I was about seven, eight years old. And I was so impressed with how far you could hit a rock with that bedminton set. Well, let me tell you by the end of the day, that badminton set was nothing but feathers. I mean it was torn all to pieces, and she wasn't happy about that. But I always loved ball, always loved throw a ball off of a building, catch it, uh play a a game in my mind or whatever. But I was very fortunate. Um when I was eight years old, we moved to Jackson, Tennessee. Dad took over managing uh selling cemetery lots at a new cemetery. And we lived in town on Main Street and they announced at school that they were having trials for little league baseball. And that time it was eight-year-olds all the way to twelve. It wasn't broken down to Pee-wee. And so I signed up and I played. Then we moved back here, and there was nothing out in Smith Springs at that time. But I wanted to play, so they took me all the way into what was then Fort Negley, which is right where this old sounds stadium is today. They had ball fields for Little League. My parents would take me there, take me to practice, and I played there until I was twelve, and then about the time I was twelve, Unile Recreation Center was developed by the United School. And they had teams and had ball fields, and I began to play down there. Like I say, it was community, but we would go to Shelby Park and Centurion Park and play some of our games. But I don't remember a time that I I didn't enjoy it. I never got it never got too hot to to play ball. And uh but it was community playing, and then I of course was fortunate to have a good year at Antioch and then to go to Lipscomb and play uh for Coach Dugan, who was a tremendous coach and and had a good reputation. And so after that I just continued to play. I I enjoyed it so much that I played in that competitive college uh ex-pro league until I was 35. And I only quit because my kids were playing and I couldn't coach them to play too. And uh but then I continued even after that just to be around it. I coached for over 40 years. Half of it was more than half of it, was probably 16, 17, 18-year-old boys. And and I just enjoyed that and to watch them grow and watch them develop and mature. And some of those kids, I still call them, are some of my best friends today.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

And I I think when you said you kept playing, um, I'll share this just for the podcast. Dad knows this, but kept playing at a competitive level. When I was in college, we had a team and put it together, and as college kids go, we just couldn't always get nine players there. And this was a very competitive league here in Nashville, and so we thought, well, why not dad? And so dad's on the team and more or less led the league in all categories. It was, in fact, I think he got invited to play on an all-star team that we didn't and we were half his age. So it was pretty amazing just to watch, but just the love of the game and just the overall abilities were were there, and and so you that is one accomplishment. I think of a lot of accomplishments that you've had in in baseball and and moments and and such. But but when you kind of think about maybe one of your most prideful accomplishments as a player, can you think of maybe something there?

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Oh, as a player, I guess I guess the the Hall of Fame uh is one. And and even after that, the Hall of Fame, which is done by the Old Timers Baseball Association here, uh they inducted me into what they call Mr. Baseball. They started that several years later. And Farrell Owens, who's one of my best friends, played together in college in this summer, and one of the original folks with the Nashville Sounds when they started in about 78. He uh he and I, the only two that are in uh who have the Mr. Baseball Award that are also in the Hall of Fame. So I thought that that's a a great honor. Uh that uh people that is based on the contributions that you've made to the game, not necessarily if you batted 400 hit a home run. It's just what so I guess coaching forty years and playing 40 years was enough to show that that I love baseball and I love the kids and the communities that they were in.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

What what does baseball teach you about life?

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Well, I I've always been told that that I'm very competitive. I don't care if you're playing marbles or checkers or whatever it is, I'm always competitive. I'm a good loser. I don't like to lose. Someone said, you know, who said it doesn't matter whether you win or lose, that was said by the loser. And so I just felt like I was very competitive in all of all those areas, and I think that helped in the real estate to be competitive, not to take you know, just l uh an evil kill or or or just take it not serious. Um I took it serious and then I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it, and that's basically what I've told all my children. Troy's the only one that's in real estate, the others are in other I said, I don't care if you get real estate, just do something that you enjoy, you'll be good at it.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Yeah. I mean you carried that that coaching into real estate into pretty much all of life, and you've coached a lot of people. Um is there a maybe a particular player that you coach that just kind of maybe you you'll never forget?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Maybe not necessarily necessarily a player, but maybe a a circumstance or a situation. Not probably three or four maybe two or three years when I started coaching, and this was nine ten-year-old kids, and uh had one little k new kid, and he was you could tell he had a lot of athletic ability. And I remember his mom coming up to me after several practices and games. She said, You know, says uh and I didn't know the circumstances, but she had gone through a recent divorce and there was no dad in his life. And she said, you know, he kind of looks up to you as his dad. I said, I I've got my own case. That's that's a big role to have to play. And uh the boy went on and gradu uh and went on to college and played. I kind of followed him in the distance, but I remember that story of how much influence uh coaches have on the kids that you do not recognize. Going on. And this boy was just very respectful, even as he got older, and I watched him play and watched him enjoy. But that that really made me understand what coaching was all about.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

There's a lot of my friends, of course, she coached me um well until you couldn't. Um and even when I was pitching, um, this kind of funny story. I mean, a lot of when I was on the mound in high school, dad wasn't my coach, but was calling my pitches um from the stands. We had some secret things that we did. And um if you're a prior coach and you don't need to know about that. But um, but continue to coach, and it's always fun because you've coached a lot of my my friends that I went to school with, and and and they just talk about just really our the teams that you coached, how much they learned, but yet how much they still had fun. Um it wasn't like a burden to get to practice, but yet they they just always remember again how much they they learned about the game and and just the little things about the game, and and and it's just those those little things that I kind of kind of come to my mind when I think about um where I want to go next, which is really the the the topic that it may be the harder to talk about, um, but really is the the heart of the matter for me um as a dad. And and it those little things, I I said this recently in a podcast, and I truly mean this, is that I grew up fortunately, and I heard this statement. It says it's basically you learn more by what you catch, what what is caught than what is taught. And I can't honestly say that I remember you sitting here saying, Okay, Troy, don't do this, this, here's the 12 things you shouldn't do. Don't but I just remember watching, and there were things that I I know for sure that I caught um that were never told for me to do. Um, but one of the things that was just so critical and that I really want to kind of dwell on here at the end is family. Because we're we're sitting on the front porch of a house that you and mom built. Um, and it's in the middle of a place where you grew up, your family grew up. Family's just so much import has so much importance to to you, um, to me, to all of us now. And I just there's a lot of questions that I want to just I want to just kind of hear you say. I think I know a lot of the answers to, but I think just for this the sake of others as well, but I just kind of want to know some of the secrets or kind of what you were thinking about as you were raising us as kids or your thoughts as as being a husband. Um, because you and mom are married for over 50 years. And what was what was the secret? I mean, what was the secret sauce that kept y'all together for 50 years?

SPEAKER_01 24:46

I think it was basically that we always wanted a family. We never discussed how many children we wanted, but we kind of knew that I came from a large family. Uh there was six siblings in my family. She only had a brother, and and we both came from different backgrounds as far as how our parents uh raised us and and uh and so forth. But we together, uh our family was was most important. If we and and of course that re resolved around our church family and our relationships that we that we've developed, and we just wanted our kids to be exposed to being in the right place at the right time with the right people. And therefore, uh and we prayed that God would would take I remember the first time when my oldest one was born, and here we have a child, and they gave us no instructions, not even how to change a diver, much less how to raise them. And and to look at that, and all of a sudden, the responsibility of that just hit me in the face. And so here comes three more, and the same thing, responsibility as a parent, and today that's a big issue. They they don't hold their kids accountable, they're not responsible for anything, and and now I'm I'm thinking about my 17 grandkids and six great great-grandkids, the w the world and life that they're living in are going to be in. And I pray that God will protect all of them. And I'm glad that I see my kids being parents now and what they're doing to, and then they're being grandparents and and how they're and how they're reacting and responding, and they're putting God first and family second.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Yeah, the um I think about where we where we were a lot. You know, I think about what it showed us what was most important to you and mom. Um, you know, where we were Sunday morning, Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, um, where we went to school, who we hung out with, those types of things, again, caught not necessarily always taught. We saw who y'all hung out with. We saw where you were on the weekends, we saw where so those things became important to us. And then when it came time for, you know, getting married, the things that were important to me when I looked at mom, you know, two things that really kind of I I just remember about mom, a lot of things, but she was always fun. I mean, she dare not take us to the mall, all four of us, because we were gonna have fun, and she was gonna let us have fun and have fun with us. Um, but she she loved to have fun and she loved to listen for the longest time, especially as I got older, and there were things that I needed her to know and give counsel on. She listened a whole lot longer than she gave advice. And and those things were were critical, just memories that I have, and and honestly, I see in the wife that I chose because those same attributes are there in her that are very much appreciated by my kids. When you think of mom, I know you could probably talk for days, but one or two attributes that just carry forth.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Well, I must have seen that early because we went to church together when I was in the eighth grade. She was in seventh grade, in fact, earlier than that, but I do remember us, you know, going skating and stuff together, and and I had my eyes on her then. I mean, I mean, it was just like she is the one. Now, why in the eighth grade? Can you go ahead and start choosing? I don't know why. I I know that she had a lot of the attributes that my mother had, and and I could see that she was going to be great with children, and she wanted children. She loved children, even if they weren't hers growing up. She took care of nephews and nieces, and that's that's the type of wife I wanted. And then, you know, uh, she was the only person I ever dated, and she never dated anybody else. So I I stole the Queen of Smith's rings. Yeah. And my dad did too. He had the Queen of Smith's Rings. That makes a lot for a family, and you're talking about her being a good listener. That's not a trait that men have. Women can sit down and listen and take it. And she came from a different background than I did, family-wise. And she knew where pain was. She knew how to help people when they were in distress or whatever. And people would flock to her because of her abilities to do that. They wouldn't come to me. I would say, ah, just shake the dust off your feet and go to the next place, you know. And but she was a great listener and and and and giving advice to a lot of people. A lot of the stuff she had experienced herself, and she knew how to handle it.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Yeah. I remember here dry that up, dry it up, quit crying. I remember those things too, but um But though, but I I do, I mean, Mom was a special person. Um and again, the the later on in life, as we kind of learn more of her, her growing up and what she overcame, and then she did so well for so long with us and in raising us as a family, and then having to to come out of that. For those watching the podcast, my mom um struggled with a lot of mental issues pretty much from about the age 42 or 40-ish on um with depression and um disorder disabilities and things like that, and and and really struggled through those later years in in dealing with that. But but it was such a a hard time, but yet we saw so many things during that time period that I would love to go back and not have her go through those things, but but I witnessed things during that time period that I'll never forget, uh the way in which you cared for her, um how much she loved everybody and learned to love in ways that was brand new sometimes to her. And those types of things that that we witnessed that we could never wanted to have gone through. But when I look back at those hard times, I I do thank God that we saw that and that honestly that she came out of those those issues watching her strength. So strength is one of those characteristics that probably as a young kid I didn't really recognize until later in life.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Well, she went through made her stronger, but at the same time, she protected you folks from a lot of that information or whatever that uh that you know the abuse that she uh suffered for many years as a child and as a young adult. But um she had uh she's had the strength, God gave her the strength, and she was able to and once she was able to overcome all of that uh through therapy and and other stuff, she was the most happy person you ever seen in your life. And it made you as the children, I knew it because she and I were talking about it, but we protected y'all from a lot of knowing a lot of the stuff that had happened in her life. But the more you begin to know about what she experienced and what she came through, the more you loved her.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Yeah. Yeah, I mean it it it is. The stories were were crazy, but yet you see where she was and and how how lovable and loved she she was as as well. Um last few thoughts. Honestly, one thing that I wish we probably would have started a few years sooner is Sunday nights. That I know special to you. That's it's it's so unique. I I talked obviously a lot of my friends and their their families as well, but every Sunday night here in the kitchen or in this house, um or the front porch. Or the front porch, wherever people can pack in. We come over. Um we eat dinner. Uh it's however many can get here, it can be 15 to 30 people you just never know. Um, but sometime around midweek, it's hey, here's the lineup for food this weekend on Sunday, and at 5 30, everybody shows up with a dish, and we just gather around and enjoy the the family time um together. What does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 33:10

But well, you know, y'all are the ones that that mentioned that after uh my wife passed away. And what it I look forward to it every Sunday night. I can't I can't hardly wait. The time comes closer, you know, to watch these cars pull in and little ones run up and all that. And one of the things people today's family is not there. They don't know their cousins, they don't know their grandparents, they don't. My granddad on my dad's side had 37 grandkids. And and all and and 80% of them lived within a half a mile of where he lived. And then my on my mother's side, it was 17 of them. And some of those lived right in the same area here in Smith Springs. And so it was just the fact that today people don't know their cousins, they don't know their grandparents, they don't build that rel and if you want to have a relationship, it should be with your blood kin. And that's to me, it's just this these are things that my grandkids and my kids, and they'll never forget as they grow older. The the stories and memories that they'll be able to share with each other.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

You don't change much. Um on my way over here, I was thinking you lived in the same area and I'm too your whole life. You've gone to the same church your whole life. You sold real estate practically your whole life. I don't this isn't a question I even prepped you for. So what what is that? Why why?

SPEAKER_01 34:44

I mean, what do you think is the Again is it's relationships for sure and family. Um, you know, I've studied the history of our family here in the Nashville area. The first one that came, he married a uh a last name of Hamilton, where Hamilton Creek ran into Stones River and he stayed there until he died in the late 1800s. Well, he had 13 children, and four of them were doctors, and 80% of them lived right out here. Some of it's under Persepriest Lake today, but uh they all lived in this area. Uh there were some roads named after them. I can just visualize what it was like when they when they got started, when they lived out here, and why they stayed here. You're talking about Smith Springs Road, and uh a spring was there and water was important. And I've got a picture of my dad when he graduated from the eighth grade from Smith Springs School standing next to that spring. And I've taken my grandkids down when the lake is low, and you can see that spring. You know, I just think people need to know their history, where they've come from. They don't know where they come from, they don't know where they're going. And so I've I've just it's it's home. Always has been home. And uh when they come over here at 5 30, it's home again.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

Uh and it uh it's community. I think when you when I think about those places, it's it's community, and and it's a place, honestly, where I can say, whether it be in your sports community, whether it be in the office when you were doing all the office stuff, and the people you serve in your business and in the family, it's community, and that's where you serve. And that's what's most important. Um, when I watch you, I see somebody that is giving a whole lot more than they're receiving. I know you even hate to receive. I I see that there's just so much for you to do right here because of so many people you know because of the communities that you're involved with. If you were to go an hour from here, you couldn't do what you feel like you're called to do inside of your community. And and I think I think you're right. I would 100% echo that that's somewhat of a lost art, that chasing a dream or chasing something else doesn't allow for that that community and that service to to kind of circulate and be what you experienced growing up and what continues to be experienced out here today. Two last questions. What do you hope your grandchildren remember about you?

SPEAKER_01 37:13

I hope they remember that that I encourage them to do what's right, that that's more important, to do things right, to build up a reputation that people you know care about you, and that you care about other people. And that's basically just the the principles, a lot of them are principles of the golden rule, but but that's that's what I want them to understand that they have a responsibility as a human being to make some contribution that's good here on this earth. We are what we are because of the choices we make, and gotta be responsible for them. And uh just blessed, you know, knowing my grandkids and and how they how they respect me and how they live their life, that's a joy that I that I have.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Yeah. You've been through a lot of seasons, um, baseball seasons, sports seasons, um, real estate seasons, raising family to grandparent, grandfather seasons, as a husband and losing mom, and and and now a great-grandfather. What when you look back on your life so far, what are you most thankful for?

SPEAKER_01 38:22

Oh boy, I you say most. I I I can't I can't put one above anything else. I think we've talked about family and and and God and church. Uh I'm thankful I had great parents myself, uh, who were great examples, who loved me. And then I've got, you know, brothers and sisters that that we take care of each other. And that's that's family, that's relationships that are built over time. I'm just saying that whatever we're here today because God had a plan for us, and He holds us responsible for carrying out that plan.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

Yeah. Well, thank you. I know um I don't know if this is your first interview, um, but I know we we talk in spots a lot of times, but just uh again wanted to kind of capture this selfishly for for myself and for all of my siblings, but I just think you have a lot to share um to to people out there, and so wanted to do this, but but thank you. I love you. Um thank you for for our time and again just for all you've been for me.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

Well, thank you for what you do in the real estate and how you've made relationships that's made your business so successful. I don't look back and say that I contributed a whole lot to it because when I was in real estate, I somebody said, When are you going to retire? I said, Retire from what? I do every day what I want to do is help people find a house, list a house, sell a house, rent a house. I still be able to do that, and I can still get the same enjoyment.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Yeah, that's fine. All right. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

All righty.