We'll Miss You, Mr. Bud

Yesterday a very good man by the name of Bud Breland passed away. Since I am not going to be able to travel home to pay my respects to him due to family obligations, I thought it would be a nice gesture to remember him and his impact on my life through this blog. Mr. Bud and his wife, Mrs. Jewel, were my next door neighbors my entire childhood. They were like grandparents to me, always remembering my birthday, visiting us Christmas morning to see what Santa brought, and always glad to have us stop by for a visit. They had two daughters of their own, but sadly both passed away in their early childhood. As a result, they were "parents" and "grandparents" to many in our community. Mrs. Jewel preceded Mr. Bud in death a few years ago when she passsed away from cancer. She was a lovely woman whose smile could warm anyone's heart. She was a school teacher and you could tell from all of her stories that she really loved the children she taught. Mr. Bud was a mechanic and he had a shop behind his house where you could always find him tinkering away on something. He especially loved fixing old tractors. Mrs. Jewel robbed the cradle when she caught the eye of Mr. Bud since she actually taught Mr. Bud in high school. From all accounts, Mr. Bud was a great basketball player and didn't care much about studying his books. Luckily for him, Mrs. Jewel overlooked this fact and ended up marrying her former student.

In recent years I learned more about Mr. Bud's time in the military, where he courageously served our country overseas while Mrs. Jewel had their children and even lost one while he was away. I cannot imagine going through such a loss when you cannot find comfort in the arms of your spouse, so my respect for them grew immensely as he began to share this with me. Perhaps my favorite memory of Mr. Bud and Mrs. Jewel is that they would always change the light outside their house to red and wrap the post like a candy cane on Christmas Eve so Santa would know where to stop and in turn, my sister and I wouldn't miss out on the goodies. I joked with him about this on my last visit home and we both got a little laugh.

Over the years, Mr. Bud and Mrs. Jewel taught me alot. Not necessarily from anything they said, but rather how they lived. They were Christians, loving neighbors, and a wonderful example of how a marriage should be. Everyone could see the love they had for one another in their eyes and through their actions. They were married for over 50 years (I don't know the exact # of years), and you could tell that their love for one another grew each day. While some families are torn apart when they lose a child, Mr. Bud and Mrs. Jewel obviously grew closer as they coped with their losses. I have no doubt where Mr. Bud and Mrs. Jewel are right now and I am happy to know that they were able to reunite yesterday. However, losing Mr. Bud closes a chapter in my childhood, and I will miss him. You see, my childhood home and the Brelands' home have both been leveled and in their stead stands a Walgreens. Thankfully though, I will always have the memories of the many fun times I had in that neighborhood, and I know I am a better person for knowing both Mr. Bud and Mrs. Jewel. Mr. Bud, you will be missed!


My sister commented on my thoughts written above and I thought everyone could benefit from learning a little more about the Brelands. Here it is:

What a beautiful summary of Mr. Bud and Mrs. Jewel! I am strangely relieved to learn that Mr. Bud was away when one of his daughters past. The tears of guilt for not being able to attend his funeral become more tears of joy for his reuniting with his family he waited years to see. It is the closing of a chapter of our childhood; which makes this "another" huge loss after losing Mammaw and Pappaw Deweese. These beautiful men and women that lived years before us are irreplaceable, which saddens my heart deeply. They were the safety net of our backyard and they made our neighborhood, "home". I can still laugh at how I would hide from Mr. Bud so he wouldn't see me in my swimming suit laying out in the backyard. And we will always talk about the ride we took when it snowed to see the "country side". I can't imagine what they said about all the dogs we had. There is no telling what trouble they caused behind our backs. There was always a comfort when we were at home by ourselves, Momma would say "just call Mr. Bud and Mrs. Jewel if you have an emergency". "1617". It's just deeply saddening that we have lost our "backup protection". They were our 3rd set of grandparents and will always be missed! I just hope they knew how much we loved them; there is no doubt they loved us. I can't remember a childhood birthday missed!! By: Kristin Deweese Kirkland

In closing, I would like to add a thought...they don't make neighbors like Mr. Bud and Mrs. Jewel anymore. I have lived in several cities since I left home and unfortunately, I have barely known any of my neighbors. In some places, I didn't even know their names. It saddens me to think that my children may never have a Mr. Bud or Mrs. Jewel in their lives. Perhaps we should all learn from the example the Brelands set and get to know our neighbors. I think they would both smile from heaven if they saw us being kind to those who share our backyards.