Good News Florida

REFLECTIONS 10 MARCH 2018 Good News • South Florida Edition My Experiences with The Rev. Billy Graham: I was 18 when a male coworker at the New Jer- sey Western Electric plant where I worked invited me on a date to a Rev. BillyGrahamCrusade inNew York City! It was huge, thousands of people packed into a gigantic auditorium. I think it may have been Madison Square Garden. (I lived just 17miles from theGeorge Washington Bridge but knew little about NYC.) Rev. Graham inspired, moved his audience and radiated the Spirit. At the close he urged those who had not yet accepted Christ as their Savior to come down to the stage and do so. Strongly tempted, I did not since I was al- ready a believer and churchmem- ber – and, more importantly, feared being separated frommy date, lost forever in the vast crowd and big city and never findingmyway back to New Jersey! Fast forward toMiami Beach, on my first newspaper job a few years later, I saw Rev. Graham again. This time it was close-up and personal. Don't recall why he was in town, but I interviewed him for the Miami Beach Daily Sun. There he was, a larger-than-life presence, piercing blue eyes, that glorious voice, his passionate words all accompanied by the un- mistakable aura of leadership. It seemed amazing that Graham, al- ready famous, even included our small, 10,000 daily circulation paper in his itinerary. We had to board the elevator to go up one-story. On deadline, as always, I was in a hurry. But he was reluctant to board the elevator until his two traveling companions arrived. I think they were parking the car or something. I urged him to accompanyme upstairs. Some- one would direct them when they did arrive, but he insisted on wait- ing. The two men with him ap- peared shortly, we caught the elevator, did the interview shot some photos. A novice reporter, I did the best I could. Responsive and friendly, he was a wonderful and eloquent interview! It was nowhere near as awful as my later interview with Dolphin quarterback Bob Griese. The sports editor, who made the ap- pointment to interview Griese, never showed up. When I walked in, my editor said I had to interview Bob Griese immediately. "Who?" I asked, be- wildered. "He's here," the editor barked. "Waiting! Quick, go in- terview him now!" A newcomer to Florida, the only football I'd ever seen were a few high school games back in Jersey. I feared and hated being totally unprepared, but my editor was insistent andGriese impatient. I assumed the man had to be some sort of sports figure. He looked relatively healthy and in good shape. I guessed right. He said he played for the Dolphins. My first question was "What position do you play?" It all went downhill from there. I prayed the sports editor would suddenly arrive and save the day. He didn't. Griese was polite but obvi- ously annoyed. Who could blame him? He was somebody. I was nobody. Floundering, I lamely asked what he and his teammates did in the off season. He calmly ex- plained that they liked to swap wives. He kept a straight face. I almost wished it was true, but didn't buy it. But he continued the conversation as though it was gospel. Did he actually hope it would be in the newspa- per? Or, I still occasionally won- der if maybe… it was true? But, I digress. Back to Rev. Graham. He was wonderful. The giant Miami Herald inter- viewed himaswell andmy story did not appear shabby by com- parison. But the kicker is that when theRev. Grahamstepped away to speak to someone else, one of the men with him ex- plained the elevator delay. Rev. Graham, he said, had vowed never to meet, travel or dine with any woman other than his wife, and that included eleva- tors. Made perfect sense to me. During our interview he said he wanted to be remembered as "faithful" and something else that I've forgotten after all these years. But faithful always stuck with me; it covers so much in our lives. And, the Reverend Graham was clearly ahead of his time. Our Vice President Michael Pence practices the same vow now. Can't hurt. The Rev. Billy Graham would have been 100 years old in November. He and his late wife Ruth were married for nearly 64 years. They were reunited for- ever in a far better place this morning. R.I.P. Rev. Billy Gra- ham, gone too soon at age 99. A Pulitzer prize winner, Edna Buchanan isa former crime reporter for The Miami Herald best known for her crimemystery novels. Faithful On June 1, 1957, ABC broadcasts the first of 14 live, primetime, telecasts from Madison Square Garden. Edna H. Buchanan Special to the Good News