In these recent days, my heart has been moved, and our Heavenly Father keeps bringing Daddy to my remembrance. In quiet humility, I reflect on the life of the man God placed at the head of our family — a man who raised six daughters and one son, his namesake, alongside our mother, Mother Sarah Mae Page.
Our father was a man’s man. He loved hard, fought hard, lived boldly, and carried the weight of life with the wisdom of Solomon and the vision of Father Abraham. Daddy unapologetically loved our mother. He kept a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, shoes on our feet, and food on the table. We never went to bed hungry. We may not have always had what we wanted, but the Old Man made sure we always had what we needed.
Daddy lived out the scripture: “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” (KJV) He provided. He protected. He stood in the gap for his family.
Daddy was not a perfect man, but he was never an evil-spirited man either. He was a good man with flaws — honest flaws, human flaws. However you knew him, you knew he was a man of his word.
He learned how to love the Lord from our mother. Billy and Sarah were an unlikely pair, yet perfectly matched in spirit. Billy was a man of the world; he was street savvy. Daddy often spoke of Grandmother Page who was the God-fearing matriarch of the family. Whereas, Sarah Mae was a church girl. Her mother and father raised their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. She lived a chaste life before her husband and seven children.
Both could minister and sing. Both were gifted. But our father was anointed to break the Bread of Heaven; while our mother was anointed with the ministry of music. She played the piano or organ in every church where we fellowshipped. Like most couples who were in love, they couldn’t live with each other, and they couldn’t live without each other.
Before he lost the power of speech, before hospice, he would look around from his bed and call out softly, “Sarah,” searching for the woman who helped shape his soul. Daddy would often say in church that our mother won his soul to salvation.
We all loved our father. Each of us loved him differently, yet all of us loved him deeply.
He was larger than life, a soldier, postman, bus driver, educator, storyteller, assistant pastor, advisor, counselor, and prayer warrior.
When he finally accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ, something in him shifted. He looked different. He preached differently. He interacted with his children differently. The Old Man had always loved us, but now he loved us with a clarity and tenderness that came from Heaven.
He believed in the Word, and he lived it. He raised us under the truth of “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6, KJV)
Seven children is a lot of children. Fifteen years later, I am still coming to terms with the layers of who he was. To walk in his shoes would not be easy. But to walk in his shoes would teach you what love truly means.
He loved, and he repented when he was wrong. His way was simple: he loved the Lord. I saw my father cry only a few times throughout my childhood, and each time it broke my heart. I used to think that if I had all the money in the world, I could solve whatever Daddy needed. But the truth is…Daddy already had what mattered. He had a loving family, and most importantly, he had a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
A dear friend recently shared a clip from the Dec. 23, 1975 edition of the Richmond County Daily Journal (posted by the Richmond County Historical Society) featuring Bill Page at the Rockingham Post Office. “Billy,” “Bill,” “Mr. Page,” and “Elder Page” — that’s what the countless people on his postal route called him. He broke color barriers in the Richmond County postal system. Rain, sleet or snow, Mr. Page carried out his duties as though he were doing his Heavenly Father’s business.
And as children, we lived under the Word of God: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” (KJV)
We obeyed him. We honored him. And today, we remember him.
