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My Father

Sergeant Arthur Ross, Sr.

My father was a master plumber and owned his own business. During those times, as a black businessman, my father endured a lot of persecution from his white customers in order to receive his proper pay. He always had to under-bid his jobs, just to get the work. Even with under-bidding and completing the job, it was not guaranteed that he would be paid for the work. There were times when people wanted to pay him with something other than cash, sometimes food or vegetables, one woman wanted to pay him with pecans. Then there were times when they did not pay at all. But we were a strong family and worked through the hard parts of life.

The winters were cold and outside work was hard on my father. One particular winter, I observed my daddy walking across the front yard out to his little shop in the back yard where he kept supplies for his plumbing work. Winter was so cold that year; the grass was frozen under his feet, you could hear it as he was walking. My father was in desperate need of a new pair of shoes, but frozen feet didn’t stop him from doing what he needed to keep his family fed.

My brothers and I had the opportunity to work with our father from time to time, learning the business of plumbing. Back then, everything was done by hand; digging the trenches with shovels for the sewer and water lines. Now, even though this was hard work, my daddy was good at his job. Plumbing was a good business when people paid on time. The repair work paid well but this was unclean work with broken sewers lines and other messy repairs. I remember that my father worked hard and he was excellent at his work. Those are a few things that I learned from him, to work hard at what you’re passionate about. I surely learned that from my daddy but I never heard him quote any Scriptures. I am sure that he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ before he died.

Arthur Ross Jr.; James Douglas Ross; David Earl Ross; George Arnell Ross; Rhonda M. Ross