My father-in-law is quite a man.  William Skinner will turn 95 in November, having served over 35 years as a medical missionary in Paraguay, and now retired for nearly thirty years.  In addition, he and Fran will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary in August.

Long before Rosa Parks bravely refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, Bill Skinner showed the way.

It was 1941 in Nashville, Tennessee.  The city ordinances in Nashville were no different than those in most large cities in the South.  Local laws and traditions required blacks to sit toward the back of buses and give up their seats if the white section was full and whites wanted seats further back.  It was fundamentally wrong, but accepted as “the way things are” by most people in the South– black and white.

Bill Skinner was raised as a gentleman, his father teaching him to open doors for ladies, offer to help them with their heavy bags, and certainly to give up a bus seat for them– even if it meant standing the entire trip.  My father taught me the same.  It’s logical, chivalrous, and fundamentally right.

To have a lady, no matter her race, stand while Bill Skinner sat never made sense to him.  He preferred what was right to what was accepted.

As prospective college student, he traveled one afternoon to Vanderbilt on the city bus. He boarded the bus, dropped his 5 cents in the till and proceeded down the aisle toward the back of the bus.  He moved all the way to the back, past the “white line” painted across the floor and found a window seat there. The bus was only half-full at the time, and most of the occupants were “colored” (as blacks were commonly called at the time).  He received more than a few double takes from the passengers, but thought nothing about it.

The bus driver saw what he had done and walked to the back to speak with Bill.

“You aren’t allowed to sit back here, sir.”

“Well, this is where I want to sit,” Bill responded.

“You’re sitting in the colored section.  It’s not allowed.”

“I paid my for a seat, and this is the seat I chose, thank you.”  With that, the bus driver returned to the front while the black customers giggled.

There was no riot that ensued, no race war that erupted, and no legal action taken against him. He was exercising freedom of choice. It was Rosa Parks in reverse.  Bill Skinner was not one to go against the flow, just for the heck of it, but refusing to bend to the folly of the times was worth the effort.

I asked him about it recently, about why he did it.

“I wanted to prove a point.  All the seats cost the same, so why not be able to sit wherever you choose.”

He made his point.  Bill Skinner was amazing even before spending a lifetime in South America.  The Greatest Generation was even greater because of him.

“Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it.”  Ezra 10:4