My travels this evening took me through Jackson County, WV, where my grandfather Wyers was born. He had a very difficult childhood, but he and his siblings rose above their poverty and sorrows to raise solid families. They’re all gone now, and now their children are starting to grow old and pass away. Memories fade, but legacies are like ripples that go on for eternity.
“Medina Road”
By Adam Will 1/4/2023
I couldn’t grab a picture
As I drove down the interstate
When I saw the exit that my grandma used to take.
Of the old run down church house
Barely standing all forlorn
Near the old abandoned farmhouse
Where my grandfather was born.
His parents, poor, died when he was young
His brothers and he stayed together
Toiling through snow, rain, and sun.
I went there once when I was a boy
Abandoned, broken, but standing still
My grandfather’s childhood home,
Nothing left but simple graves on a hill.
They loved him, of this I’m sure, but they left three boys behind
Just teenagers with older sisters who had their own kids to mind.
I never knew my grandfather, he died when mom was young
But I know that he loved Jesus
And to his grace, A.E. clung.
I’m amazed at the life those Wyers boys had
The grief of losing momma
and then losing their dad.
In the hills of Jackson County
Those orphaned boys strived
Audra, Fred and Clyde.
I think about them often
when I drive past that road
Where we had our family reunions
Not far from that abode.
They worked hard, they made it!
They raised their own families too
Never forgetting the struggles
And the love that between them grew.
The family is mostly gone now.
Faint memories remain.
Like the faded tombstones
And pictures in their frames.
That little church on Medina road
The memories it holds
Like that tiny Wyers house
Where love was kept, the stories told.
So when you drive through valleys,
Over hills and streams
Take thought, oh traveler,
Of visitors and sojourners before
And how they prayed and dreamed
How we’re blessed by those of old
By those folks long forgotten
Who gathered down by Medina Road.
Adam Will 