by Jim Stovall
Books by Jim Stovall
The Ultimate Gift
The Ultimate Life
The Ultimate Journey
© 2013, 2020 by Jim Stovall
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
Repackaged edition published 2020
Previously published by David C Cook in 2013 under the title The Gift of a Legacy
Ebook edition created 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-2500-6
This story is a work of fiction. Characters and events are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is coincidental.
This book is dedicated to my grandparents, who left me with a legacy of hope and possibilities; my parents, who nurtured the legacy and presented it to me; and all of the great mentors in my life who have left me a legacy to share with others.
Contents
Cover
Half Title Page
Books by Jim Stovall
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Our Legacies
Introduction
1. Life and Death
2. Past, Present, and Future
3. The Bequest
4. The Meeting
5. The Inheritance
6. The Legacy of Work
7. The Legacy of Money
8. The Legacy of Friends
9. The Legacy of Learning
10. The Legacy of Problems
11. The Legacy of Family
12. The Legacy of Laughter
13. The Legacy of Dreams
14. The Legacy of Giving
15. The Legacy of Gratitude
16. The Legacy of a Day
17. The Legacy of Love
18. The Ultimate Legacy
About the Author
Back Ads
Back Cover
Our Legacies
Every footprint that we take
Makes a change where we have passed.
Small things there beneath our heel
Are changing where the print was cast.
What then could any difference make
When ruthless paths our courses take?
Beneath our heel some things will bend
Without the strength to rise again.
Joye Kanelakos
Introduction
My dear reader, you have paid me the greatest compliment and given me the greatest honor by beginning the trip you and I will take together within these pages. Anytime someone like you is willing to invest their money and, more importantly, their time in one of my books, I feel gratitude and a tremendous sense of responsibility.
This effort represents my seventeenth book. Some of you are old friends who have shared many journeys with me through a number of my books, while others of you are new acquaintances who will be traveling this way for the first time.
My fiction career began with a very special novel entitled The Ultimate Gift, which became a major motion picture from 20th Century Fox and starred James Garner, Brian Dennehy, and Abigail Breslin. That story and those characters resonated with so many millions of people around the world—including me—that I kept the characters alive in the sequel, The Ultimate Life. That story gave me, and my readers around the world, a deeper connection to Red Stevens, Jason Stevens, Mr. Hamilton, and all the other characters that made the saga come alive. Wanting to travel with those special people one more time, I wrote the novel The Ultimate Journey.
Now, knowing that all good things—including stories—must come to an end, we experience The Ultimate Legacy. This story, just like the first book, The Ultimate Gift, is told from the perspective of Theodore J. Hamilton. Rest assured that Jason Stevens will make his presence felt as he shares the wisdom he received from Red Stevens and passes it on to another in the form of a legacy.
I trust that this story, like the others, will be entertaining, challenging, and enlightening, but more importantly, I hope these characters and this message will travel with you every day of your life and that you will find these messages worthy of being a part of your own life and your own legacy as you live well and leave the best parts of your own wisdom behind to benefit others.
We human beings, in our own frailty, often believe we need to get outside of ourselves, and even outside of our community, in order to travel to a different land to find the things we seek. Only when we look inside can we begin to understand the ultimate gift, which allows us to appreciate everything in the world we have been given, both inside and outside ourselves. Once we find this balance, we can, in the words of Red Stevens, “go home to a place we have never been before.”
My wish for you is that all your dreams will come true, and as you stand atop the mountain, having reached each of your goals, you will accept that as an opportunity to dream bigger dreams, set greater goals, and leave a lasting legacy for those who will travel behind you.
Anytime you need to touch base with a fellow traveler, you can reach me at 918-627-1000 or [email protected]. I’m looking forward to your success.
Jim Stovall
2013
ONE
Life and Death
We have life as long as our heart is beating, but we live as long as our heart is filled.
I was remembering the last time Sally May Anderson had graced my office with one of her periodic visits. I just sat at my immense, ornate desk and let my thoughts drift back over the decades, rich with memories of Miss Sally.
When one’s life is dedicated to handling people’s legal matters, the clients generally limit their visits to times when they’re confronted with a crisis or a dilemma of some sort. Miss Sally’s appointments were more like an event or a happening that everyone in my law firm anticipated with great eagerness.
My name is Theodore J. Hamilton, Esquire, of Hamilton, Hamilton & Hamilton, Attorneys-at-Law. Of the aforementioned Hamiltons, I am the first. The remaining Hamiltons in our organization are made up of my son and grandson. Having two generations of my progeny competently functioning within our firm gives me a unique perspective. While I am hopefully not over the hill, I certainly have reached the crest from which I can see a long and satisfactory career behind me and, with any luck, some interesting challenges and opportunities ahead of me.
The photos in the montage on my credenza were taken at my eightieth birthday party, which was organized by my colleagues here at the firm. I gazed at each of the photos and noticed that Miss Sally was prominently placed in most of them. Having lived eight decades plus a little gives one an interesting perch from which to observe the world. My half-century of practicing law has brought me satisfying measures of fame and fortune as well as a number of treasured friends. When people are confronted with legal issues, they not only need a competent attorney, they need a caring friend. I like to think of myself as both.
The mementos and trappings of my long career that adorn my office remind me that I am more a product of the twentieth century than of the twenty-first. But if I am a product primarily of the twentieth century, my friend and client Sally May Anderson was clearly a product of and ambassador to the nineteenth century. Miss Sally brought a gentility and wonder for life to everyone and everything around her.
T
he last time I saw her, she had been rapidly approaching her hundredth birthday. As usual, she wanted to see me about a legal matter pertaining to her home, known by everyone as Anderson House.
Anderson House was originally built in 1862 by Miss Sally’s late husband’s grandfather, Colonel Milton Anderson. The home was the most spectacular residence of its time and has remained so throughout the ensuing years. When Miss Sally’s beloved husband, Leonard, passed away almost fifty years ago, she turned the vintage home into an idyllic bed-and-breakfast. Anderson House Bed-and-Breakfast became Miss Sally’s domain and passion for the next fifty years.
Miss Sally’s home was a destination and sanctuary for world travelers, as well as a dining or overnight getaway for city dwellers like me who simply wanted to get out into the country and savor a bygone time in a very special place with some amazing people.
One never knew who might be in residence at Anderson House. During my most recent stay, I met the Heavyweight Champion of the World; a young man named Tracy who was an award-winning filmmaker; a former President of the United States; and a gentleman I will never forget . . .
Just as I was leaving Anderson House’s parlor, which is the gathering place for guests most evenings, I spotted a small, stooped elderly man in a tattered Army uniform. I introduced myself, and he told me his name was Joshua. He had come to Anderson House every year since World War II for a reunion of his regiment. Miss Sally’s late husband had been their commander.
Each year, they would come to Anderson House to share old stories and memories, and they would end the reunion by saluting one another.
Joshua lamented, “I’m the last one living, so there’s no one here to salute.”
I felt a wave of emotion and patriotism and said, “Sir, if you’ll accept a heartfelt salute from an old Navy man, I would be honored.”
Joshua and I exchanged salutes.
That is just one of my many priceless memories from Anderson House.
Without thinking, I reached forward to the spot on my desk where I knew my cup of tea would be sitting. I had picked up the habit of drinking steaming-hot tea every day sixty years ago during a two-year excursion to Korea, by way of invitation from Uncle Sam. Upon returning to the United States after my stint in the Korean War, I continued to drink tea, but it became a lifelong habit courtesy of a life lesson from Miss Sally May Anderson.
Shortly after passing the bar exam, I opened my law office. At the time, it was not the highly respected firm that Hamilton, Hamilton & Hamilton currently is, housed in our palatial offices. Back then, the shingle outside the door modestly read Hamilton Law Office, and the environment certainly did not give my prospective clients a feeling of confidence.
One particular morning, the bell on the front door of my office rang, hopefully signaling that I had a prospective client, but more likely announcing the arrival of a salesman or another person looking for the dental office down the hall.
I leaped up from my desk and rushed into the outer office, as I was performing all of the receptionist duties in the Hamilton Law Office at that particular point in time. Truth be known, I was handling all of the duties in the office.
I was confronted by the immaculately dressed Sally May Anderson, who stood in the middle of my entryway. She smiled brightly, extended a gloved hand, and proclaimed, “I assume you are Theodore J. Hamilton, Esquire.”
I was at a loss for words, so I simply nodded as she continued.
“I am Sally May Anderson, and you have been recommended to me as the right man to handle a unique legal challenge.”
I already knew who she was, as she was one of the best-known figures in the region. I couldn’t imagine why she was in my office or which of my meager handful of clients had referred her to me.
I motioned her toward my office, and she entered regally, as if she had arrived at the queen’s throne room instead of my shabby office. She settled into one of my threadbare hand-me-down client chairs and gazed around the room. She seemed to accept everything at face value without judgment, which was a quality of Miss Sally’s I came to respect and tried to emulate throughout the ensuing decades.
I asked if she would like coffee, tea, or anything else to drink, and I was relieved when she declined, as I didn’t have anything on the premises to drink other than my tea, which was in a Styrofoam cup in front of me.
I knew from news accounts that Sally May had to be at least twenty years older than me, but that was hard to believe as I looked across my desk at her.
Without preamble, she reached into her purse, took out a porcelain tea cup and saucer, poured my hot tea out of its Styrofoam container into the teacup, and placed the cup back on my desk on the saucer as she tossed the disposable cup into a nearby trash can.
She stated emphatically, “I always carry one with me. Drinking tea is an experience to be savored, not a duty to be performed.”
I didn’t know what to think or say, so I just nodded as if I understood. She settled back into my client chair, took a deep breath, and began.
“Mr. Hamilton, my late husband left me a fabulous home and considerable resources with which to live the rest of my life. I wish to open my home to others so they can experience the wonders that it offers. I also want to make provisions so that Anderson House can continue to serve others long after I’m gone.”
I began taking notes on a legal pad as she continued.
“A young man named Howard Stevens, with whom my late husband had some business dealings, told me you were his attorney and you were the man I needed to see.”
Sitting alone in my office fifty years after that initial meeting, I was thankful to my friend Red Stevens for having faith in me and introducing me to Miss Sally.
When one practices law and endeavors to do it well, one deals with every aspect of one’s clients’ lives. When I started out as a young attorney, most of my clients were young as well. This means that in the early years, I dealt with many legal issues surrounding marriage and childbirth, as well as the launching of careers and businesses. In later decades, an attorney begins dealing with less pleasant legal tasks having to do with death, incapacity, and legacies.
This particular morning started out much as any other. I was the first to arrive at Hamilton, Hamilton & Hamilton, which has been my practice since the beginning, as I like to get my calendar, files, and thoughts organized before the inevitable interruptions from my staff and colleagues encroach.
An hour or so after I arrived, my assistant, Miss Hastings, lightly knocked on my door and entered. That simple knock on the door signaled something of great import and gravity.
Miss Hastings was my first employee when my law practice began to grow. She has remained with me all of these years, for which I am most grateful. To describe her as my right arm would leave out the many proverbial tasks she performs for me that require both my right and left arm, as well as skills and intuition I don’t possess.
We have never discussed aloud the exact terms and conditions under which we work, but—over the months, years, and decades—a seamless working relationship and profound friendship has formed. We have never actually discussed that her respectful knock on the door meant anything specific, but we both knew that it did.
Following the knock, she entered solemnly, stood in the middle of my office, and announced in an emotional voice, “Mr. Hamilton, Miss Sally May Anderson passed away in her sleep last night.”
TWO
Past, Present, and Future
We have a great life when we learn from our past, plan our future, and live each day in the present.
When one loses a special friend, even though that friend is approaching her one-hundredth birthday, it hurts and leaves an empty feeling. Every person who knew Miss Sally and was touched by her understood logically that they couldn’t keep a treasured ninety-year-old person in their lives forever. But no amount of logic prepared them for the time when she was gone. Sally Anderson had been a fixture in our community and in my life for so long it was
hard to imagine a time or a circumstance when she wouldn’t be there.
On the Wall of Fame in my office, there are photos capturing the special times and people in my life and career. As I gazed at the countless photographs that represent the milestones in the life of Theodore Hamilton, it became obvious that a handful of special people had been there with me every step of the way.
Looking at the earliest photo of Sally and me, I was struck with a number of impressions. First, I was amazed that we had ever looked that young. Even though Sally was almost fifty and I was only thirty in the photo, we appeared to be contemporaries in age, but that’s where the connection should have ended during that era. Miss Sally and I met and became friends during a time when wealthy, prominent white women like Sally May Anderson didn’t do business with, socialize with, or even have their picture taken with a young gentleman of color like me.
Although that reality wasn’t printed in any of the law books that I studied or lived my life by, a half-century ago the rules dealing with racial issues may as well have been written in blood.
But Sally seemed to transcend all of that. It wasn’t that she was opposed to it or objected in some way. She just seemed to be oblivious to racism and all of the pain it created. She simply rose above it and chose to live her life on a higher plane.
As I looked at that special photo, which captured Sally and me at a place and time that existed a long time ago, I couldn’t help but compare it to the last time Sally had been in my office, just a little over a month before.
We never know when our last time in the presence of a dear friend, colleague, mentor, or member of our family will be. I have always believed if you treat each day, each meeting, and each activity as if it were your last, sooner or later you will be right. Each day, the obituaries are filled with names of people who assumed they had decades of life ahead of them. Every day is a gift because it can either be the first day of the rest of our life or be our last day here on earth.
