WOODEN NICKELS

IN LOVING MEMORY OF ANTHONY “POPPY” HENRY, SR.

December 3, 1946 – October 12, 2024

My dad passed away on Saturday, October 12, 2024.  In the grand scheme of the world, he wasn’t a well known man but those who did know him were impacted by the relationship they had with him.  More importantly he was known by his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

In this blog post I’m sharing my eulogy from his funeral so that you too may know the amazing man he was.

What I hold in my hand are wooden nickels.  Wooden Nickels date back as far as the 1880’s but became popular in the 1930’s.  They were used as a currency substitute during the Civil War as a way to address the coin shortage.  At the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair they were used as souvenirs.  Companies and Banks used them as part of promotions and could be redeemed for things like drinks.  During the Great Depression some towns actually allowed the use of these nickels as legal tender on a limited basis. 

These particular nickels I have in my hand have an Indian Head on one side and a Bison on the other side which is how most were produced.  These are not original Wooden Nickels they are replica’s but you get a good feel of what they were like. 

When Wooden Nickels were used as real money, people were skeptical and distrusted the use of the wooden coins.  They felt they were not valuable, not durable, easily counterfeited, and basically a fake of real money.  Because of this the phrase “Don’t take any wooden nickels” was birthed. 

So why would I give you a history lesson of the Wooden Nickel at my Dad’s funeral? 

Fair question. 

My Dad was known for what we called “Poppyisms”.  He had a very funny and unique way of expressing himself.   

For example, if you asked him how he was doing, he would say “If it got any better I couldn’t stand it!”

If you asked him if him what he had going on, he’d say “I’m busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest.”

If you mentioned something he didn’t like, he’d tell you, “That dog won’t hunt.”

If you asked him about the weather and it was cold, he’d say, “It’s colder than a well diggers ass in January.”   I personally have never taken the temperature of a well diggers ass but in January I presume that is pretty cold.

If we were working on a project and you brought up an issue or problem to him, he’d tell you, “Don’t worry about the mule going blind, just load the wagon.” Oddly enough we never had any blind mules on site, but whatever.

He had many others like, “If you’re waiting on me, you’re backing up.” Which till today I have no idea what that means. 

But one he told me on many occasions, often as a teenager walking out the door was, “Don’t accept any wooden nickels”. 

As a kid, I didn’t really know what he meant.  For the longest time, I just chalked it up to one of the crazy things he said.

This reminds me of something else.  With the introduction of the smart phone, text messages, and emoji’s his unique and funny expressions evolved into texting.  We have a family group chat and I can’t tell you how many times there would be side texts between the rest of us trying to interpret “Poppy” texts.  The funniest was a text he sent about Aunt Betty (his oldest sister) and a doctor appointment or hospital visit she had.  I don’t remember exactly what it was, but it was something to the effect of “Aunt Betty had to go to the doctor and they found x, y and z.  Keep her in your prayers.  LOL!!!”  All I remember was, that whatever Aunt Betty went to the doctor for, was not funny.  No one responded.  We were all confused.  Well, as it turns out, in Poppy’s world LOL meant – “LOT’S OF LOVE”. 

Okay, so back to not accepting wooden nickels.  Like I mentioned, when he told me this, I didn’t really understand what he was saying, but later on I figured it out.  He was telling me to not be fooled, to not accept anything that wasn’t real, to be on the look out, to only accept what is real, genuine and true. 

My dad, Poppy, was without a doubt the most real, genuine and true person you will ever meet.  He loved life and was passionate about those things that were important to him.  He made the most of every moment experiencing all that God gave us to the fullest extent of himself.  He loved harder than anyone I ever met.  He was anchored in his Faith in Christ, he adored and treasured his family, and he was a Patriot.  He loved the good ol’ U, S of A.  It’s these things, anchored in his Faith, that drove him.

In John 15:13, Jesus said, “There is no greater lover than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”.  My dad made many sacrifices in his life for his family and friends.  Probably his greatest sacrifice was in service to our country.  As the major deployment of troops was ramping up in Vietnam, my dad volunteered to serve in the U.S. Navy.  After boot camp he was assigned to the USS Ranger Aircraft carrier and worked on the flight deck. 

As a child I loved hearing the stories of what life was like on the carrier and the ports and countries they stopped at.  As many Vietnam Vets, he held certain stories close to the vest, but in what he did share, his love of this country and the honor he felt to serve shined through.  He had a sense of duty and was willing to lay his life down if necessary to ensure the freedom of others.  His service to our country exemplifies real, genuine love for others. 

Anyone who knows him, knows how much he loved this country.   He passed that love of country, sense of duty and American pride on to me.  He was the very reason I decided at 18 years old to sign up and serve.  But his patriotism not only has flowed through me, I’ve seen it in the rest of our family as well.  You can see the impact my dad has had in all of our lives.   I can see it now in my own children and how much they love our country.  His passion and pride lives on in all of us today.  It’s so strong and so real you can feel it.  There’s nothing fake about it.  We are just like him in this way.  

Second only to the Lord, Poppy loved his family.  His family always came first.  If you called, he was there.  Didn’t matter what you needed or what time it was.  He responded. 

His father was his hero, he absolutely adored his mother, loved and served his sisters well and he was the protector of his little brother.  As he got older and expanded his family, he loved and served his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.   

Jason, my brother, you were his baby.  His last born son.  He loved you more than you ever will know.  He thought about you every day and more importantly he prayed for you every day.  He always wanted the best for you and for you to come to a relationship with Christ like he had.  He wanted you to come to an understanding of truth, the truth that is spiritual and not what the world projects.

Rhonda, my sister, you were his first born.  You were his baby girl and princess.  He was your cheerleader and you held a special place in his heart and a love that was different than any of the rest of us.  In the last 2 years you were his nurse giving him the greatest care any dad could ask for and he loved you for it.

Robert, my brother in law, you were his fishing buddy.  He loved you like a son and appreciated you so much for loving, caring and protecting his princess.

Hunter, Rhonda and Robert’s son and my nephew, you were his first born grandson.  This has a special meaning in a family.  He spent so much time with you in your formative years.  You were blessed to have him close to you as not only a grandfather, but also a teacher and mentor.  Probably the best thing he taught you was where all the cookies, snacks and candy were hidden in his basement pantry. 

Mallory, my step-daughter (though I never liked the “step” term) most people tend to overthink and overwork blended families.  Not Poppy.  You stepped in to our lives and he accepted you as if you were our own blood and been with us since birth.  He truly did not see you any differently than any of his other grandchildren.  He cherished your conversations. 

Chris, my son-in-law, Mallory’s husband.  Poppy loved your heart for the Lord.  While he himself had a strong faith, he was in awe at the strength of your faith.  He loved you, respected you and loved how you love your family.

Taylor,  my first born, my baby girl, my princess, you made Poppy, Poppy.  You were his first born grandchild and gave him his name.  I’ll never forget the excitement when he found out he was going to be a grandfather and that he was having a granddaughter.  He loved you before he knew you.  You always held your own special place in his heart.  He was always so proud of you and all you accomplished.  He loved your “stick-to-it-ness” and never give up attitude.

Karl, my son-in-law, Taylor’s husband.  He so appreciated you and loved you for your passion for our country, your work ethic, your love and prioritization of family, your faith and how you love and care for Taylor and Riley.  He loved you and respected you immensely.   

Matt, my first born son and my baby boy.  Poppy was the first born son from his dad, I was the first born son from Poppy and you are my first born son.  There is a special blessing that passes from father to first born son’s.  That blessing passes from your great grandfather down to you.  Even though you are the youngest,  you hold a special place in the family by being a first born son and this comes with great responsibility.  Poppy believed this and was both excited and proud to see this pass on to you and to have you carry on the family name.  But also, as the baby, Poppy truly adored and loved you.  Like Hunter, you were blessed to spend a lot of time with him in your formative years.  You were his little buddy.  As he was proud of all his grandchildren he was proud of you.  He believed in you and all you can become. 

Raynell, my bride, the love of my life.  Oh how he loved his Raynell.  You were his “Joe”.  I believe you were his greatest confidant.  He would tell you things that he wouldn’t tell anyone else.  If he only knew that you came and told me everything he told you.  Or did you?!  Later on in life you were his Uber driver and his medical transport.  But, you were more than that to him.  He truly adored you from the first time he met you.  After meeting you, right away he told me, “You got a good one there.  Don’t screw this up.”  You two became partners in crime.  He had no choice but to love Rhonda and I.  We were his kids, but he chose to love you.  At times I thought maybe he loved you more than me.  He loved you because he saw something in you that was genuine.  You are real.  What you see is what you get and he loved that about you.

The Bible talks about the Gentiles being grafted into the faith.  Poppy grafted many people into his family.  Robert, Raynell, Mallory, Chris, Karl he grafted you all in permanently to the family. 

My dad loved harder than anyone I know, especially members of his family.  His family was always at the forefront of his thoughts and he served them well.

Paul writes in his letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 5:8), “But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith.  Such people are worse the unbelievers.”

I remember when he was about to retire and he and I went on a search for property where he could have his vegetable garden, goats, maybe horses, pond, shop and everything he dreamed of.  We drove and looked and drove some more.  I remember looking at some places and he would look at the map to see where we were.  He was worried about the location, but not for the reason most people would think when looking for a house.  He wanted to make sure he was close to Aunt Betty (his oldest sister) because he said that if she needed anything he wanted to be close.  Well, while we got him close, but not as close as he wanted, this illustrates his love for his family. 

After he was retired and moved back home from Atlanta, he would come down and sit with Matt so Raynell and I could enjoy a night out.  Sometimes we would ask him to come, but several times he would call and tell us we needed to have time together to keep our marriage strong and would just offer.  When he would come over, he reminded me so much of Grammy, his mom.  He would get on the floor, play games and do whatever Matt wanted. 

Poppy was a genuine, real-life example of what Paul wrote about to Timothy.  He was a believer, a man of faith that cares for and serves his family well.  Poppy truly was LOL –  “LOTS OF LOVE”.  His love of family he also passed down to me.    

Poppy’s greatest passion in life was his relationship with Jesus Christ.  Jesus is real and is the one and only truth.  My dad’s faith in Jesus was unwavering because he recognized the truth and love in Jesus.  He experienced a lot of hardship in his life, but his faith never wavered.         

              In Hebrews 11:1 it says “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see”.

              In Matthew 21:22 Jesus said, “You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”

              My dad had a faith stronger than anyone I know.  He knew that God would always see him through and believed through his faith and constant prayer that God would hear him and answer him.

              Now while his faith and relationship with the Lord was strong and anyone who knew him, knew about his faith, I wouldn’t say he was the evangelist type.  But what he did do, was live out his faith where everyone could see it.  He may not have been on a pulpit preaching or even leading a Bible study, but you knew where he stood when it came to God.  It was in how he carried himself, how he conducted business, how he greeted you and spoke with you.  The Holy Spirit oozed out of him and you could not help be affected by it.  He never had a lot of words, but he had a ton of actions and he had the power of prayer. 

              Many years ago Raynell and I were at a pretty bad spot early on in our marriage.  It was the weekend before Mardi Gras and Raynell, me, the girls and Poppy were at the Intercontinental Hotel on St. Charles St. in the grandstands watching the parades for the weekend as we did many years when he worked there.  He sensed something was wrong so he asked me how I was doing.  I told him things weren’t going well, that I wasn’t happy and actually had thoughts of leaving.  I went on to tell him that with all that had happened in my life up to this point, I questioned if God was really there.  He wasn’t shaken by anything I told him.  He was actually very calm and seemed very much at peace.  He also did not start rattling off a bunch of bible verses and didn’t even really offer any advice.  Which was probably good because at the time I was in such a bad spot I probably wouldn’t have listened and gotten angry with him.  What he did do was put his arm around me, kiss me and said, “Son, I’m going to pray for you.”  That was it, nothing more, nothing less.   But prayed is what he did and today Raynell and I stand here married for a lot of years, now have Matt, 2 beautiful grandchildren, Elleana and Riley with a third on the way.  That is faith.  That is real faith and that is the power of prayer.   His faith was another thing he passed down to me. 

              As it became very apparent to me in the last couple of weeks that my dad’s physical life on this Earth was nearing an end I started thinking about his life.  Rhonda and I spent so many hours, days and weeks caring for him over the last almost 2 years, that in the daily grind of providing for his care, I forgot about who he was before he became sick.  Those last couple of weeks were so special because there was a shift from the hustle of doing all the things necessary to care for him to sitting by his side, talking to him, praying over him and remembering the amazing man he was and the impact he left on so many lives. 

                            In Matthew 22: 36-40 when Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment in the law of Moses, Jesus replies, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind.  A second and equally important commandment: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13, “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.  Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.  Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”

This was my dad.       

Just as all the Commandments can be summed up into love, the summation of my dad’s life is love.  Real, genuine love is weaved throughout the stories I shared about his life today.  And what I shared today was only a spec of sand on the vast beach that was his life.  He has truly fulfilled God’s call on his life by the legacy he’s left behind.

              You all knew him by different names.  Anthony, Mr. Anthony, Mr. Henry, Antnee, Uncle Anthony, Unc, Paran, Poppy just to name a few.  No matter what you called him, know that he loved you, prayed for you and he left a mark on you.  He impacted so many people throughout his life and this was evidenced by what people have told me about him. 

              When he retired and moved to Franklinton, LA he met and became friends with the Bell family.  They always checked on him, helped him with anything he needed and absolutely adored my dad.  They would tell me all the time what a great man he is.  If I went to the little country grocery store across the street from his house I would hear all sort of wonderful things about my dad. 

Prior to his passing he spent 6 months at Sage Lake Senior Living in Covington, LA.  There wasn’t I day that I walked in that someone did not approach me and tell me what a kind, loving gentle man my dad was.  This came from residents, administrators, nurses, aids, everyone.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  He was there only for a short period of time but he impacted them so greatly and they absolutely loved him.    

After his passing, so many people shared stories about there interactions with my dad and the positive impact he had on their lives.  Stories I had never heard.  My dad wasn’t famous, he didn’t have a huge platform, was barely on social media, but he found a way to make a difference in this world.

Me, I knew him as Dad.  Even after Taylor named him Poppy and everyone called him that, when it was just he and I, I called him Dad.  That’s who he was to me, my dad.  As my dad he was my nurturer, disciplinarian, teacher, coach, mentor and most of all my best friend.  He was my dad.   

              And my dad taught me to only accept what is real and to beware of the counterfeit.  He taught me this when he shouted, “Don’t accept any wooden nickels” as I went out the door. 

              Well I heard you Dad.  I’ve accepted the one, valuable, durable, real and impossible to be counterfeited Truth.  The Truth that has guided me throughout my life and taught me to love with a passion like He did and like you did.  I’ve accepted Jesus.  Just like you dad.