Ian Cosh, the Northern Ireland native who heads the Ben Elrod Center for Family and Community at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, called me several years ago when I had no time for taking on extra projects. But when Cosh explained what he wanted--my assistance in writing a book on the life of Arkansas educator Ben Elrod--I couldn't say no. At night and on weekends, I worked to co-author with Cosh a book titled Giving Until It Feels Good.
In retrospect, it would have been a huge mistake to turn down Cosh's request. My life is richer for having known Elrod, who died last week at age 87. And it became richer still when I began to study the career of this remarkable Arkansan, who lived two doors down during much of the time I was growing up at Arkadelphia.
All of the work was worth it when I read what Elrod wrote in the foreword to the book: "After writing two doctoral theses, I simply have not been inspired to take those painful steps of reviewing, polishing and editing again. I enjoy writing, but not what follows writing in the process of publishing. So I found a better way. In weak moments, Ian Cosh and Rex Nelson agreed to do the writing. All I had to do was dump the mountainous load of files on them and give them permission to write what they would. I gave them copies of my biographical material, speeches, published and unpublished articles, interview transcripts, pictures and anything else that I would have consulted if I had written the book. Rex and Ian have organized and recorded much of the material, together with their thoughts and suspiciously complimentary comments to provide the book that I didn't want to write. ... Thank the Lord for Ian Cosh and Rex Nelson."
And thank the Lord for Ben Elrod. He was one of my mentors in life. I can think of few people I've respected more.
Elrod once told me how he had learned about leadership as a high school student at Rison. He injured his knee in a football game during his junior season in 1947. Elrod had surgery at the famed Campbell Clinic in Memphis, but it didn't restore full use of the knee. His doctors told him not to play as a senior. One day, the school superintendent and high school football coach asked if he would coach the newly formed junior high school team during the fall of his senior year.
"I was frightened but excited about the offer," he said. "I thought about it for about two minutes and said I'd like nothing better. I eagerly accepted the task and coached the first junior high football team that Rison had fielded. I was pretty well on my own. I was fortunate in that the 40 or so boys who reported for practice were above-average athletes, and a few of them were exceptional. They had played sandlot games together most of their lives. They blended into a good team. We had fun, especially the coach. ... I could have gladly gone into the coaching field as a vocation."
Instead, Elrod became a pastor, a college administrator, a master fundraiser and an economic developer. In all of his roles, he had an influence on young people, just as he did when he was coaching football during his senior year of high school. In August 1988, Elrod conducted a lengthy interview with Erwin McDonald, the well-known editor of the Arkansas Baptist. Elrod had experienced heart problems, and McDonald asked him if he worried about the stress of being Ouachita's president, a position he had accepted that year at age 57. Elrod noted that some of his friends had already taken early retirement.
"I have always had my greater joy in my work," he said. "Work has never seemed to be drudgery to me. It has always been a pleasure. That isn't to say that it doesn't have its unpleasant moments. But my basic satisfaction in life has been doing the Lord's work. I would be hard-pressed to turn down an opportunity at this point just because I'm 57 years old. I still want to serve. And if I'm capable and judged capable by the people who are making the decision, I will have a hard time saying no to them."
In 1997, Elrod announced that he would retire as president of Ouachita, taking the title of chancellor of the university. He had accomplished what he had set out to do. It was time for a younger man, Andy Westmoreland, to take the helm.
In thinking about Elrod's legacy, I keep coming back to what Elrod told McDonald in that 1988 interview.
"I could check in right now and feel that the Lord has given me far more than I ever deserved in a lifetime," Elrod said. "I have often wished that I could live three lifetimes because there are so many things I want to do. God has filled my life with activity and rewarded me with seeing to it that those activities were worthwhile. I'm not sure a person can ask for a lot more than that. I have had more than I deserved and much more opportunity than most people have. This makes me want to give the Lord all I have as long as he lets me live.
"If the curtain comes down during my Ouachita days, the only thing that would bother me would be the inconvenience that would cause Ouachita. I would much rather be doing something worthwhile for the Lord and feeling good about it than to live longer by not being busy. However, I plan to live to a ripe old age and may even have a challenge or two beyond Ouachita waiting on me. Those matters are in God's hands, and I'm pleased to leave them there."
Fortunately, Elrod lived to that ripe old age. Arkansas is a better place because he walked among us.
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Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 08/15/2018