‘It was natural for Jerry to keep faith’ (When I asked Fr. Tom Lalor, pastor of St. James, Tupelo, to think about and give me the name of a senior parishioner who has a long history of being a faithful Catholic, Jerry Bristow’s name came immediately to mind. When I told Jerry he smiled and responded, “Well, that just happens if you live long enough.” )
By Fr. Kent Bowlds
Humble yet invaluable wisdom can be found right in our own pew, if we just listen to fellow parishioners such as Jerry Bristow, a lifelong Tupelo resident who was baptized in 1932.
The first priest he remembers was also the first resident pastor at St. James, Father Robert Reitmeier, for whom he was an altar server and later, when he was a teenager, a driver to take Father Reitmeier to one of the many mission parishes on Sundays.
“Some cold mornings in the old church the very first thing I had to do was thaw out the holy water — I used the incense thurible,” Jerry recalls. “And Father must have thought I stayed out all night, because he would say, ‘Would you come by about two in the morning and turn the floor furnaces on?’ but I didn’t wait that late to do that.
“Father Reitmeier was well loved by everybody, because he was sincerely a nice person. During the school year he taught religion to all the grades at once — just a few of us gathered around his dining room table on Saturday mornings.”
Jerry was the only Catholic in his high school, but he remembers Tupelo’s people as being and remaining tolerant toward all faiths, though Catholics were targeted when the KKK came and marched in town.
“Everybody knew you were Catholic,” he says, “and the questions I got were out of interest, not criticism; I was even elected president of our high school Hi-Y Club (sponsored by the YMCA).”
Perhaps it was natural for Jerry to keep the faith, given the deep roots put down by his great-grandparents, who came from Ireland, and his grandmother, who was the first Catholic baptized in what is now Lee County in 1857.
He attended Mass while stationed in Tokyo during the Korean War (“in Latin, so it was just like being back in Tupelo”) and has kept doing so along with Pat, his wife of almost 45 years with whom he has three children.
But more than just a matter of attending Mass, Jerry’s faith has quietly influenced everything from his work to how his prayers have evolved over the years. Rather than thinking of God’s call as something foreign and special, for him it seems to be almost common sense — an essential thread in the fabric of everyday life.
“In a small town, your sins will catch up with you,” he remarks when asked about how faith and ethics have been part of his career, speaking with a wisdom that is both obvious and sorely lacking today, judging from the headlines.
With an office in a converted house, the same one where he was born, Jerry has yet to retire from being a real estate appraiser. “My father taught me the love of work, not working just for the money, but how to enjoy your work. And every business has its own set of ethical guidelines; you just have to follow them.”
He doesn’t think those in and graduating from college should fret too much over how God might be calling them. “When I got out of the Army I wanted to be a diplomatic courier; I thought that had a fascinating ring to it,” Jerry remembers.
“But my plans changed after my father died, and I ended up in real estate . . . so I don’t expect people to know, at that age, how they should spend the rest of their lives; I think they need to be flexible — try something for a while, and not be upset if they don’t know the answer right away. Life won’t pass them by, though at their age I thought it would.”
As much as he loves his work, Jerry has learned there is more to life and thinks that with years and adversity one comes to realize things are seldom as bad as they sometimes appear.
“Some people say, ‘I prayed about such and so and God told me what to do,’ but that’s not my experience; I sense God in the way that things just eventually work out — not always getting everything I wanted, but always getting just what I needed.
“And now, as opposed to when I was young, I pray in a more general way, not so much for specific things to happen, but just for things to work out and for God’s will to be done.”
Jerry smiles and acknowledges the truth in it when he tells the one about the little boy who asked his buddy, “Why does your grandmother read the Bible so much?” — to which his buddy replied, “She’s cramming for her final.”
(“Hearing the Call” is a monthly series of interviews with people who “have welcomed Christ’s call ... to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world” (Catechism, par. #3). To submit ideas or comments contact Fr. Kent Bowlds, vocation director, website: jacksonvocations.com, 601-944-9844.)
