By Sabrina Squire - bio | email
Posted by Terry Alexander - email
BUMPASS, VA (WWBT) – In a perfect country setting, complete with picket fence and wraparound porch we met the Millers. Beth and her husband David bought eleven acres they call Elam Meadows eleven years ago. They love the open space as do the geldings: Cody and Beau.
"We had a few sheep and a few goats and chickens," said Beth Miller.
Now the kids and most of the animals are gone. The couple's considered downsizing but know they'd miss the neighbors, one in particular.
Beth Miller: "Hey H.C. How are you?"
Sabrina Squire: "Hey. How are you sir?"
H.C. short for Henry Clay Perry.
"If you open the dictionary and look for neighbor you're going to find his name there. He is the ultimate neighbor," said Beth. "He's forever loading his lawn mower up and going and mowing the grass at his church or the neighbors down the street, and any random time, there's a knock on the door it H.C. with a pan full of hot homemade rolls with a dish towel over top. You have to stop what you're doing and eat ‘em right now."
Beth says H.C. rushed over recently we he saw the couple outside in a race against the rain.
"Collecting the hay and H.C. sees us, walks over and he's in his 80's, but he's over here hauling hay putting us to shame to. He's such a hard worker," Beth said. "He always has his pickup truck and he's forever told David ‘As long as I have a truck you have a truck.'"
David had the truck one day last month when disaster struck.
"A little before midnight, he heard the horn blowing and so got up. Of course he thought it was being robbed or something and looked out and it was completely engulfed in flames," Beth remembered.
When H.C. saw his shell of a truck, he didn't even wince.
"And standing out there in the middle of the night and his truck is burned up and he looks at David and says, ‘If you need to use my truck tomorrow, you go ahead'. But just this positive attitude," she said.
Easy to see why they want to pay it forward.
Sabrina Squire: "I have 100, 200, 300 dollars for your young at heart, helpful neighbor."
H.C. Perry: "I feel this way. That's what we're here for. We're here to help one another. Look how good y'all been to us."
Beth Miller: "Well we love you and we appreciate you so much."
The tough part: convincing H.C. to accept.
Beth Miller: "So this is for you. 100, 200, 300 dollars."
H.C. Perry: "Now what's all this for?"
Beth Miller: "Because you're so wonderful."
H.C. Perry: "Aw shucks, I'm not that important."
Sabrina Squire: "We think so."
H.C. Perry: "Y'all go ahead and keep this."
Beth Miller: "No, no, no. That's yours."
It took some wrangling, but H.C. figured out something he just might do with his gift when he shows me his new truck
"I just go ahead use it to make a payment on it," H.C. said.
Even though his GMC isn't brand new, he says it's new to him. He's pretty proud. In fact he tells us to put his truck on T.V. instead of his face.
H.C. Perry: "Because it's break it."
Sabrina Squire: "No, you're not going to break the television, you're gonna be a TV star."
He says I'm welcome to borrow his truck.
H.C. said, "God bless you too. God bless all of y'all."
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