In recent weeks, we’ve shared stories about Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers helping out in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, which hit the Florida Gulf Coast in late August.
But we haven’t shared with you yet about a man one disaster relief team met at the end of a road out into the keys in Ozello, Florida — 97-year-old Ellis Bailey, a World War II veteran.
“He doesn’t look 97 at all,” said Mark Presswood, associational missions director for Clarke Baptist Association, who was doing flood recovery work with the association’s DR team.
And Bailey wasn’t used to being the one receiving the help.
“He was sitting on his riding lawnmower when we showed up,” Presswood said. “He wheels his walker down to his neighbor’s house and gets on the riding lawnmower, then mows his grass and the grass of three of his neighbors. He’s the oldest man in that neighborhood by far, but he just wants to do it; he’s got a servant’s heart.”
In WWII, Bailey served on the U.S.S. Alabama. He was on the ship when it led the U.S.S. Missouri — which had Gen. Douglas MacArthur on board — into Tokyo Bay for the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, which ended the war.
‘A lot of stories’
“He’s got a lot of stories,” Presswood said.
Bailey told the team that he grew up in church — his mom and dad would walk him there each week hand in hand with his siblings, and they would all sit on the front row together. He gave his life to Christ at a young age.
“He’s known the Lord for a long time,” Presswood said. “He smiles a lot. He just seems happy.”
When the team finished helping Bailey clean out his water-damaged basement, they were glad to have been able to help a fellow believer, but they felt like they were the ones who had received the blessing.
“When we left at the end of working there, I said, ‘Mr. Bailey, we’ll see you in heaven one day,’ and he said, ‘Oh yes, I’ll remember you.’”
Share with others: