Billy Graham's Children Were Too Mean to Play With

My wife Julie grew up in Black Mountain, a town of 400 where Billy Graham lived. They just called him Billy.

Billy Graham's father-in-law, Dr. Bell, brought Julie into the world.  As a child, Julie remembers Billy coming over to their house many times.  He always came in the back door, like the other neighbors, friends and relatives, and often would sit at the kitchen table waiting for Julie's grandfather to come back. 

Julie's grandfather was getting bushes and shrubs for Billy's new house.  Back then, that meant Julie's grandfather went up into the mountains and dug up the bushes and shrubs and brought them back down.  

In the 1950s, everyone just thought of him as Billy, although "he WAS building a big ol house on the mountainside"  as Julie remembered.

Julie's house, like just about every other house in town, did have a front parlour off the front entrance to the house.  Only a few people, like the preacher and the Jewel T man, were allowed into the parlour.  When I asked Julie if Billy Graham ever got into the parlour, Julie said no, it was reserved "for the special people." 

As a young girl, however, Julie was not allowed by her family to play with Billy Graham's children.  "They were too mean," was the reason she was given.  Thanks to Julie for her remembrances growing up in a small, rural, poor community in the 1950s, along with one of the most famous Americans of the last 70 years.