Kindness Repaid (by Nancy Allen)

Kindness Repaid

I recently heard of a kindness that set of an avalanche of kindness. The cars were lined up at the fast food restaurant. The man in front, out of the kindness of his heart, decided to pay for the person’s food behind him. That one act of kindness resulted in 33 other people paying for the next person’s food. It’s unfathomable and impossible to define the perimeters of even one positive action on another person’s life.

            Don Martin was a man known for one particular act of kindness. His wife, Jackie, tells how for more than 20 years her husband made pear preserves and gave them away. He often drove around town surprising friends and brightening their day by leaving a jar of preserves in their cars. 

             Jackie said, “After he retired from the IGA Market in Shelbyville, Tennessee he needed something to do. He was always doing something for other people, especially widows. Sometimes he would mow their yards. Then my mother gave him the idea and the recipe for making the preserves. I would come home and my kitchen would be full of pears. He peeled the pears and made the preserves himself. Sugar was dumped over the pears where they were left overnight before Don cooked them the next day in their own juice.”                                                              Although Don Martin was known as the pear man, he never owned a pear tree. Most of his pears were given to him by the English and Caperton families. 

            Sadly, Mr. Martin died of cancer in September 1998. When the family was making his funeral arrangements, they considered planting a pear tree over his grave. However, they were pleasantly surprised to find the Willow Mount Cemetery had already planted ornamental Bradford pear trees near most of the graves. The Martin family chose a place where a new tree had been planted.

            Five years passed. Don Martin was not forgotten. But, no one could have predicted how he would be remembered. In 2003, the Bradford pear tree bore fruit!  And, it has produced fruit every year since. Dr. Anthony Halterlein, of Middle Tennessee State University’s College of Agribusiness said “it’s not unheard of, but it is rare that a Bradford pear tree produces fruit.”                                                               None of the other trees in the cemetery have produced fruit. Perhaps it’s only fitting that finally Don Martin has his own pear tree, repaying him for his kindness that he showed for so many years to others by giving away his pear preserves.