{"id":11402,"date":"2022-11-21T08:17:34","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T14:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=11402"},"modified":"2022-11-21T08:20:53","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T14:20:53","slug":"harry-truman-methvin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Truman Methvin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story By Pierre Fontenot<\/em><\/p>\n

Main photo by Liz Anne Mueller.\u00a0Other images courtesy Vance Perkins\u00a0and Kara Clayton Bergeron.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI was in his first homeroom class.\u00a0 <\/span>Jacket from the 1940s, as country as you can get.\u00a0 <\/span>All I could think was that the other students would tear him up\u2026\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Harry Methvin grew up outhouse poor, in a family that lived now to now, in a little community called Hargrove Settlement, just north of DeQuincy.\u00a0 <\/span>Too many kids, too few beds, Harry spent many a night sleeping on a pallet on the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned to never name a backyard chicken,\u201d he\u2019d say, \u201csooner or later, it\u2019d end up being dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>He was destined to do like men did in those days, make a living with his hands, axe and dynamite, digging out pine stumps, getting them to the plant, to be turned into turpentine.<\/p>\n

An older sister encouraged him to get some college.\u00a0 <\/span>Took him a while, work, work, work, to earn tuition money, take a few semesters at McNeese, then work some more, repeat\u2026<\/p>\n

He substituted for a teacher on maternity leave at St. Louis Catholic High School.<\/p>\n

There he was, country bumpkin, probably wearing his daddy\u2019s one good jacket, bought for some funeral long ago.\u00a0 <\/span>Best he could do, among children who were more well to do.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201c\u2026all I could think was that the other students would tear him up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, they fell in love with Mr. Methvin.\u00a0 <\/span>First day of class, first words he\u2019d say, \u201cThis is my classroom.\u00a0 <\/span>I was here first.\u00a0 <\/span>Then I\u2019d tell them what I expected, then I\u2019d expect it\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta make them feel challenged, like they were in a battle, but they need to come out the winner.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Methvin taught 10th<\/sup> grade English.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThey\u2019re not going to remember a misplaced modifier, but they\u2019ll remember how you made them feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s how it goes,that\u2019s how it ends.
We stop,and we stay.
There\u2019s gotta be more.
That\u2019s what Harry believed.
He had the faith ticket,for next,
and best,and eternal.
And everybody who loved
Harry wants to end up
where Harry went\u2026 because
Harry Truman Methvin knew God.\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Many consider him the most impactful teacher they ever encountered, including college, post-graduate, life itself\u2026<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just book learning.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHe says to me, \u2018Shhh\u2026 do you hear that?\u2019\u00a0 <\/span>All I could hear was the clicking of the wall clock. \u2018That\u2019s your life ticking away..\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Another student, \u201cHe saw me coming down the hall, he took one look at my face and said, \u2018Whatever it is, it\u2019ll get better.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI was about to make a foolish decision, and that moment really steered me in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 and he wasn\u2019t even my teacher\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Another student, \u201cHe was our Mother Teresa\u2026\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>And Harry was a Baptist.<\/p>\n

First year at St. Louis, here comes Easter.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThey had a mass on Ash Wednesday.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>He didn\u2019t know what to do, so \u201cto make myself useful I went to the copy room, running papers on an old mimeograph machine.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>When mass was over, the kids returned to class, each with the marks on their forehead.\u00a0 <\/span>None of the kids or faculty treated him differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got home I looked at myself in the mirror,\u201d where he found that he had mimeograph ink on his forehead.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIt was divine intervention!\u201d<\/p>\n

Harry Methvin loved to laugh, and loved to make people groan, at his puns.<\/p>\n

Friend shows him a picture of a Peggy Martin rose he gave her as a cutting, now in full bloom:<\/p>\n

She, \u201cI promised I\u2019d take good care of her.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Harry, \u201cYou rose to the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou and your bloomin\u2019 puns!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry, bud.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ll petal the nonsense elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He\u2019s buried in his own backyard,
the only home he\u2019s ever known
next to a log cabin that he built
by hand in his man prime.
He\u2019s wearing overalls,clean,
but not too blue,not too new.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The reaction to his sudden death, on October 6, 2022, was the truth he\u2019d earned.\u00a0 <\/span>There were ripples and gasps, gulps in throat and knots in stomach, a great, wide, oomph of true loss, in a circle of people wider than anyone imagined.<\/p>\n

Harry died on his beloved mother\u2019s birthday.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cNot only did we love her for what she was, we also adored her for what she was not.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Harry inherited her love of God, and her point of view about people.\u00a0 <\/span>If God saw something in you, so should Harry; if God loved you, so should Harry; if God would help you, so should Harry. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He did not invest his time in accumulating money, he invested his time in accumulating people, which was wise, because people are what God cares about\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more on Harry Truman Methvin, see\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>Uncle P\u2019s Bedtime Stories.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Story By Pierre Fontenot Main photo by Liz Anne Mueller.\u00a0Other images courtesy Vance Perkins\u00a0and Kara Clayton Bergeron. \u201cI was in his first homeroom class.\u00a0 Jacket from the 1940s, as country as you can get.\u00a0 All I could think was that the other students would tear him up\u2026\u201d Harry Methvin grew up outhouse poor, in a [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":11403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4,2456,2595,2593,59,2594],"yoast_head":"\nHarry Truman Methvin - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harry Truman Methvin - BestOfSwla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Story By Pierre Fontenot Main photo by Liz Anne Mueller.\u00a0Other images courtesy Vance Perkins\u00a0and Kara Clayton Bergeron. \u201cI was in his first homeroom class.\u00a0 Jacket from the 1940s, as country as you can get.\u00a0 All I could think was that the other students would tear him up\u2026\u201d Harry Methvin grew up outhouse poor, in a [&hellip\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BestOfSwla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bestofswla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-21T14:17:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-21T14:20:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/harrytrumanmethvinfeatured.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"690\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"379\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pierre Fontenot\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Pierre Fontenot\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/\",\"name\":\"Harry Truman Methvin - BestOfSwla\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/harrytrumanmethvinfeatured.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-21T14:17:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-21T14:20:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/04b92ddcfd1ce4b7b8e1be34acd996ea\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/harrytrumanmethvinfeatured.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/harrytrumanmethvinfeatured.jpg\",\"width\":690,\"height\":379},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Harry Truman Methvin\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/\",\"name\":\"BestOfSwla\",\"description\":\"Powered by Lagniappe Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/04b92ddcfd1ce4b7b8e1be34acd996ea\",\"name\":\"Pierre Fontenot\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5c6d050cd0d3ec11e3a784f158ba5e89?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5c6d050cd0d3ec11e3a784f158ba5e89?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Pierre Fontenot\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/author\/pfontenot\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Harry Truman Methvin - BestOfSwla","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Harry Truman Methvin - BestOfSwla","og_description":"Story By Pierre Fontenot Main photo by Liz Anne Mueller.\u00a0Other images courtesy Vance Perkins\u00a0and Kara Clayton Bergeron. \u201cI was in his first homeroom class.\u00a0 Jacket from the 1940s, as country as you can get.\u00a0 All I could think was that the other students would tear him up\u2026\u201d Harry Methvin grew up outhouse poor, in a [&hellip","og_url":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/","og_site_name":"BestOfSwla","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bestofswla","article_published_time":"2022-11-21T14:17:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-21T14:20:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":690,"height":379,"url":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/harrytrumanmethvinfeatured.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Pierre Fontenot","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Pierre Fontenot","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/","url":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/","name":"Harry Truman Methvin - BestOfSwla","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/harrytrumanmethvinfeatured.jpg","datePublished":"2022-11-21T14:17:34+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-21T14:20:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/04b92ddcfd1ce4b7b8e1be34acd996ea"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/harrytrumanmethvinfeatured.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/harrytrumanmethvinfeatured.jpg","width":690,"height":379},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/11\/21\/harry-truman-methvin\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Harry Truman Methvin"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/","name":"BestOfSwla","description":"Powered by Lagniappe Magazine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/04b92ddcfd1ce4b7b8e1be34acd996ea","name":"Pierre Fontenot","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5c6d050cd0d3ec11e3a784f158ba5e89?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5c6d050cd0d3ec11e3a784f158ba5e89?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Pierre Fontenot"},"url":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/author\/pfontenot\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11407,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11402\/revisions\/11407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}