Funeral, Eulogy, and Memorial Talks
EULOGY FOR JAMES ALVIN “BUDDY” MAYNARD
[Talk presented by John E. Enslen at the Wetumpka Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on May 3, 2024.]
James Alvin Maynard was born to James Franklin Maynard and Eleanor Minnie Sellers on May 25, 1942, in Tallassee, Alabama. He died just short of his 82nd birthday on April 22, 2024, at the VA Hospital in Montgomery, Alabama.
I have known James Alvin Maynard, whom we all called “Buddy,” for a long time. Many newer members have only known Buddy as an almost anonymous, home-bound, health-challenged member to whom the Lord’s Supper was taken each Sunday.
When I entered the 7th grade at Wetumpka High School on Tallassee Street in the fall of 1959, all students from grades 7 through 12 occupied the same building. We walked the same halls, ate our noon meals in the same lunchroom, played in the same gymnasium, attended the same weekly “chapel” meetings, sat together and yelled at the same pep rallies, and took our breaks under the shade of the same large oak trees out front.
Buddy was four grades ahead of me. But I knew him, and so did everyone else in school, notwithstanding he was quiet, reserved, and somewhat shy. Buddy stood out. Back then he was already very tall, properly proportioned, and rather handsome. His well-known nickname at school was “Cheyenne,” taken from a TV cowboy show starring Clint Walker, who Buddy, as a teenager, strikingly resembled in size and appearance, right down to the cowboy boots. I remember almost having to look up just to see his belt buckle coming down the hall.
Buddy was too busy working construction jobs to have much of a social life in high school, or to be involved in sports or the band. This made him somewhat of a loner. Nevertheless, he was liked and respected, and he was an exemplary student in the sense that he stayed out of Principal Bratton’s office and minded his own business.
Buddy graduated in May of 1961 and almost immediately signed with the U. S. Navy to see the world, and he did see the world. Passing through every latitude and longitude, he crossed all the great oceans on planet earth. One of his assignments was on an ice breaker that paved the way for submarines to surface at both the Arctic and Antarctic continents. His early naval career was a worldly experience for him. He indulged in the common wildlife of young sailors—tattoos, bar fights, too much grog, and time in the brig.
Toward the end of his four-year commitment, the war in Viet Nam was starting to escalate. After a year or so of civilian life, he decided to reenlist for another four years. He knew he would be going to Nam, but sitting on a ship way out in Tonkin Bay would not be so bad. But to his surprise, sitting in the bay did not turn out to be his assignment. He was attached to a river gunboat that retrieved bodies from other gunboats that had been involved in losing engagements along the Mekong River. Although Buddy could tell lots of stories, what he witnessed in that job was not one of them.
On June 23, 1966, during the early part of his second tour with the navy, Buddy married Linda Jarman in Montgomery, Alabama. Linda was still in high school, and it was necessary for them to elope and fabricate a new birthdate for Linda that made her old enough to marry without her parents’ permission. On September 20, 1967, Paula was born, and on December 9, 1968, Donna was born.
Buddy was ultimately discharged from the navy a little early near the end of his second tour. He was suffering from significant hearing loss from a nearby explosion, dizzy spells, and other health problems. But he consistently did his best throughout the remainder of his life to work through his health problems.
Buddy had a superior work ethic, and he supported his wife and two young girls with his carpentry and welding skills that he had learned as a young man from his father and other family members. His occupation in construction required the family to move occasionally to be where the next big job was located.
On February 15, 1974, Jason was born. Later that same year, while living and working in Pensacola, Florida, two young men wearing names tags attached to white shirts with ties, knocked on their door. Buddy, who was not at home, will be forever indebted to his wife Linda, who let the missionaries into their home, started listening to their messages, and later convinced a reluctant Buddy, that he should also hear what they had to say.
On February 8, 1975, Buddy was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Buddy and family were successfully friendshipped and fellowshipped by new friends—Nelson P. Joyner and family. Brother Joyner was serving as the bishop in Pensacola at the time. Conversion to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ was a defining experience in Buddy’s existence. It totally changed the trajectory of his life. In reality, it saved his life.
You can discern a lot from the timing of a man’s priesthood ordinances in the Church. Buddy was ordained a priest by Brother Joyner on June 29, 1975; he was ordained an elder on September 28, 1975; and he was endowed in the Washington, D. C. Temple on June 1, 1976, about 15 months after his baptism. I will throw in a quick, fast forward, footnote: Twenty-one years later, Buddy would be ordained a high priest on December 28, 1997, by Wetumpka branch president Carl Stephens.
About two years after his baptism, Buddy and his family decided to return to Elmore County where he and Linda both had deep roots and numerous relatives. On March 13, 1977, Buddy and his family attended for the very first time a sacrament meeting in the little Wetumpka Branch located in a warehouse type of building at the west end of Tallassee Street. I was the branch president, and I can still vividly remember rejoicing at their presence. Under our circumstances at the time, we did not wait on official membership records before issuing a call. The very next Sunday, Buddy received two callings, one of which was young men’s president; Linda was sustained as the primary president. I was so grateful for the way Buddy and his wife Linda both poured their faithful efforts into the Lord’s work.
Here is the situation that the Maynards confronted in the Wetumpka Branch. Forty-two active members who had helped the branch to qualify for a first phase chapel had recently moved out of the branch: The Jensen family of 12, who returned and took Ladd Gardner; the large Jones family; the Steve and Jan Pruitt family; the Allen and Susan Curlee family; the Harry and Nell Young family; the Jim and Linda Hasuike family; Jere McDonald; Sue Hammond; Mike Tatum had departed for Ricks College in Idaho; and the Ken and Mellanie Bailey family moved to Montgomery. Only the Edwards, Pattillos, Welches, and Enslens remained. But now we had the Maynards.
I had a front row seat when witnessing everything I am about to tell you about Buddy. If you look at the newspaper photo of the groundbreaking for the first phase of this chapel on May 1, 1977, you will see Buddy Maynard and family standing front and center in that photo. Later that year, I watched him powerfully drive nails with one stroke as he helped me add on to our home on Chapel Road. Buddy always maintained a current temple recommend, faithfully attended his numerous meetings near and far, regularly blessed the bread and water, planted and dug sweet potatoes on the church farm, went on temple trips to the Washington, D. C. Temple, joined disaster cleanup crews to adjoining states, bore his fervent testimony at fast and testimony meetings, helped cut, sell, and deliver firewood and participated in our many other work projects to raise the $39,000 that was our local share of the cost of the land and construction for the first phase of this chapel. He gave two-minute talks in Sunday school, spoke in nighttime sacrament meetings, stood in the circle as we blessed children, including my own, played on our Church softball team, paid his tithing and then generously contributed to the ward budget, the stake budget, the welfare fund, the building fund, and fast offering. He gave a lot of prayers in an era when women did not pray in sacrament meetings. He helped move the first furniture into this building, gave the very first priesthood lesson ever given in this building, blessed along with a visiting Ken Bailey the very first sacrament prayers ever administered in this building, and was hired by the Church as the first custodian of this building. If that is not enough to make him a genuine pioneer of this ward, then there are none.
On September 3, 1977, the branch helped Buddy and his family move from Wallsboro to South Elmore. The preceding Sunday, he had been called to serve as the Elders Quorum President. As the president, he supervised the home teaching, plus maintained a separate local church bank account pertaining to quorum matters. His service as Elders Quorum President will always stand as unique in the history of this ward. Please allow me to explain.
Elders quorums, now Melchizedek priesthood quorums, are generally known as “movers.” We help people move all their belongings when they come to our area, and we help people move all their belongings when they later depart. We have many “moving” experiences to talk about. During Buddy’s tenure, in addition to the moving work, the Wetumpka elders quorum became known as “roofers.” Buddy was a roofer by trade and knew all the ins and outs of an asphalt shingle roofing project. During Buddy’s administration, our quorum was called upon several times to assist members, most often very inactive members, with re-roofing their entire homes. Both the givers and receivers were richly blessed in many ways as we labored in the heat under Buddy’s direction.
I might mention that Linda played an important role in helping to bring her brother Frank Jarman into the Church. Frank would later serve as branch president—immediately after Jeff Kwallek and immediately before Carl Stephens.
Sadly, there came a time in the early to mid-1980’s when Buddy’s and Linda’s marriage became tumultuous. They were both very good people, but there were irreconcilable conflicts that ultimately resulted in divorce. I am sure that I was a less-than-effective marriage counselor. Fortunately, both of them as parents remained supportive of their three children, Paula, Donna, and Jason, who was about nine years old. Despite the family set back, all involved moved forward in as positive a manner as possible.
After a time, Buddy began to date another wonderful lady, a service-oriented convert, Mary Francis Robertson. They were married on October 24, 1986. Dianne and I were with them when they were later sealed in the Atlanta Temple on July 8, 1989. Buddy and Francis were, and are, an inseparable pair, and they remained devoted to one another during the 38 years of their marriage.
Buddy became an avid genealogist and family history researcher and took part in identifying and submitting countless deceased family members and others for their temple work. Prior to Buddy’s increased decline in health, he and Francis served together as ordinance workers in the Birmingham Alabama Temple. Francis is not able to be with us today in person but is hopefully watching remotely at a distance. She has been an extraordinarily faithful wife and has literally worn herself out as Buddy’s caretaker over the past fifteen years. She sacrificed herself to spoil him. She has set an amazing standard for service and devotion to spouse. Our thoughts and prayers are with her today.
I want to conclude by referencing one of Buddy’s annual practices—sending out Christmas cards, but not just the bare, signed commercial Christmas card. He included a lengthy personal testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, word-processed by his friend Mellanie Bailey. He was bold. He was valiant. He was straightforward. He was plain spoken. He left no doubt about where he stood. I will quote a few lines from his Christmas messages so that he can speak to all of us here today. (I wish Nathan Pattillo were here to read this because he could mimic Buddy’s southern drawl perfectly.):
I will share these things by way of commandment, doing the will of God for me, fulfilling my mission on the earth, and the love I have for my friends and relatives. By living up to our potential, we better understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ and God’s Plan of Salvation. By obeying the laws and commandments of God and by living the true Gospel of Jesus within his Church, we can find true happiness, peace, and joy. A man or woman can become closer to God by reading and studying the Book of Mormon with the Holy Ghost as your teacher, than any other book in the World. The Melchizedek Priesthood has been restored with power… The temple [has been] restored to receive all blessings from ordinances that can only be performed in the temple. Only those people who are members of Jesus’es Church… can have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion, guide and teacher of all truth. We must join Jesus’es Church and enter into the “New and Everlasting Covenant” with God, and follow Jesus…. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the church that Jesus established and restored upon the earth….
We are grateful that when God set the bounds of our habitations and appointed the times for our earthly mortality, he placed us in the same time zone and geographical location with James Alvin Maynard, who made a difference for good in our lives. (Acts 17:26)
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.