Chester Lupton, A Lowland Boy in Spirit and Heart

Chester Lupton in his electric car.  Photo courtesy Mike Lewis Collection.

During my childhood, I vividly remember Mr. Chester Lupton driving his little electric car down the road.  He was one of the folks in our past that represented an iconic image of being fully accepted by all of the people of Island.  You see, Mr. Chester was born severely handicapped in 1918. Driving his little car, he would stop along the way and speak to anybody who was in their yard or passerby’s who would stop to talk with him.  Mr. Chester died in 1994 at the age of 76…a truly remarkable age for an individual with his disabilities.  Below is his graveside eulogy given by Rev. Merritt Watson.

Chester Edward Lupton

Born: September 27, 1918       Died: October 28, 1994

Graveside Service at Watson Cemetary, Lowland N.C.

Merritt Watson, Minister

            Dear family and friends, we are gathered here today in loving memory of Chester Edward Lupton, who was born on September 27, 1918 and who died on Friday, October 28, 1994. We come to this place to remember a person, who though in age was fully a man, yet remained forever a boy to most who knew him and loved him.

            When Chester was born in 1918, he was born severely handicapped.  He could not walk.  He could barely talk. Only those who knew him well could understand when he tried to communicate.  Yet in his mind, Chester was every bit the man and person that the rest of us are.  He had his own personality, his likes and dislikes. He was in many ways a quite unique person.

            For most of his life, Chester was lovingly and tenderly cared for by his mother, Minerva Watson Lupton.  Only a little over a year ago, we were here together for her funeral.  At the age of 102, she was compelled to leave behind the son who had been her constant companion since his birth.  Though in failing health, Chester was also here, fully aware that he was saying goodbye to his beloved mother.

            I am confident that many of his family and friends were concerned about how he would manage in her absence.  Though he deeply missed her, Chester managed quite well. In the nursing home where he and his mother had moved some years ago, he found consolation in the visits of his family and friends, and in those people around him who loved him and who helped care for him.

            My own memories of Chester are almost as old as my life.  I remember as many of you do, the push cart made for him.  It had a long pole which someone could take and pull or push.  Often times when there was no one to pull the cart, you could see Chester pushing himself backwards, using his feet or a hoe with a shortened handle, making his way slowly toward Howard Lupton’s store.

            Chester loved to be out doing things.  He loved the summer days when he could work in the yard. He and his mother and father would often come to this cemetery and work, helping to tend the graves of family and friends.  Chester was not one to just watch.  He would have his hoe and he also would be chopping at the weeds.

            In the mid 1950’s, a very special thing happened to Chester.  His uncle, Randolph Watson, had an electric cart made for him.  He took Chester to Bayboro to the feed mill he owned and put Chester in a large storage room with sacks of feed all around where he could not hurt himself.  Chester was put in the cart, shown how it worked, and then given room and time until he learned to work the machine as an expert.  The electric cart became his pride and joy, and he didn’t appreciate anyone messing with it.  It gave him a mobility and independence he had not fully known before.

            Chester loved also to be among people.  He liked coming to the store and sitting under the stoop. He knew he would get a lot of attention there, for everyone coming to the store would greet him, and the men would often carry on with him.  Sometimes their teasing worried him.

            On one occasion they worried him with tales of how the highway patrol would get him if they saw him driving his electric cart down the road.  He came home quite upset and agitated.  Everyone tried to understand why he was so upset, and all they could understand was something about ‘up and down the road”.  Finally someone asked was he talking about a patrolman and he nodded his head yes.  He then was assured by everyone that he had nothing to worry about. His little cart was perfectly legal for the roads of Lowland.

            Chester never lost his interest in people. Even after he and his mother moved to the nursing home in Edenton, he would ask about the people he knew back home.  He had a way of communicating with signs. He would rub his leg from his knee to his thigh when he was asking about someone in particular. And those who knew him well would begin to name the people they thought he was asking about, and he would nod his head when at last the right person was named.  He kept up to date as best he could with what was going on in the community.  He even would ask about the proposed new bridge and how progress on it was coming along.

            For me the best memories I have of Chester are of his coming to church on Sunday.  He would drive up in his cart and wait until a couple of the men to lift him and help carry him inside.  He liked going to church because he was among people he loved and who loved him.  He would often come in the building laughing because someone was saying something funny to him or because of the special attention he was getting.  In ways that he probably never knew, Chester was a blessing to everyone here.

            Chester would take home with him the church paper called The Lookout, and he would not rest until his mother read it to him.  He enjoyed hearing his mother read to him and she often did.  Though handicapped in body, his mind was active and alert.  He never lost his interest in what was happening around him.  There was about him an innocence and simplicity that all of us can truly admire.

            Someone who was to him ‘a best friend’ remarked to me that Chester was blessed beyond measure.  When you think of the way his life was handicapped, it may not seem so.  But when you think of his special qualities, and what I believe to be his special standing before his community and his God, I think that he was indeed blessed.

            In the gospel of Matthew we read of an occasion when the disciples of Jesus were disputing about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus called to himself a child and put that child in the midst of them and he said: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:1-4)

            In some ways, Chester was always a ‘boy” in spirit and in heart. It is not prerogative or yours to say that he was innocent before God.  Nonetheless it seems to me that Chester could well have been the child that Jesus called to himself and put in the midst of his disciples. Humble in spirit, zealous in love, never failing in his concern for others, his is truly an example of those who achieve greatness in the kingdom of heaven.

            For this reason we are content and confident in leaving to God’s grace and care the now departed spirit of Chester.  The God, who in Jesus Christ said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” surely stands with open arms to welcome this, his child home.  Now free from all the impediments of this life, Chester has gone home to a loving God, and we rejoice today in his new found freedom.