HERBERT HARVEL KNIGHT: POST #11

I wrote a little about my oldest Brother C.W. earlier. Well, I have to tell you about the next brother in the litter and that is Harvel. Nowadays a lot of people know him as Herbert and that is his first name, but we always called him Harvel because Dad's name was Herbert.

Harvel was one tough guy. He would fight anyone that he encountered IF HE COULD SEE HIM. He was known as a guy that could whip about anybody, but as tough as he was he was afraid of the dark. I am told by some of his kids that he still is. I remember stories about him and the dark, like the night he was walking home by himself and something made a noise in the weeds in front of the cemetery and he ran completely by the house. One night he and some of the other brothers and a neighbor guy was walking home and a car full of guys from somewhere stopped and asked if they wanted to fight. Harvel told them to just come on, but when he looked around all the other guys were a quarter of a mile down the road and he stood there by himself. I don't remember for sure but I think that he got out of it someway. One of the funniest stories that I remember from my childhood at Herman Junction involves Harvel and his close buddy Charles Bratcher. The family had all gone somewhere and brother James (Jamie) came home from Freed Hardeman College. Since nobody was there Jamie just went on to bed. Later that night Harvel and Charles came home and after coming in and turning on the lights decided to go to the wood pile and get some wood for a fire. While they were outside Jamie got up and turned the lights out! The story as I heard it was that Harvel and Charles walked back to Truman instead of going in that house.

Harvel had a little green 1937 Ford couple. I really liked that car. One time he and old friend Charles Bratcher were driving down the street in Truman, Arkansas and they noticed a rattle in the back of the car. They devised a plan to find it. They got out and Charles climbed in the trunk and Harvel slammed the lid down and took off to see if Charles could find the rattle. But, an older lady had seen all this and called the police to report a kidnapping that she had just witnessed. If I remember right, brother Gib McCord who may have been the police chief caught them and of course when they explained he knew that everything was fine.

I also remember the time in the cotton patch when Rayburn was trying to speak Spanish. We had a lot of mexicans come to our country then to work in the fields. Ray kept trying to speak spanish and Harvel told him to shut it up. Ray said, "Si, Senor." Harvel kept telling him to stop it and Ray kept saying, "Si, Senor." It wasn't long until Ray was knocked about five rows across from where we were working. I'll tell you this, "you haven't lived until you have Harvel Knight for an older brother."

Harvel was the first of my brothers to preach the gospel. I guess that by now he has been preaching for nearly 60 years and is still going. He and his wonderful wife Bobbie produced seven fine children. His beloved Bobbie died Nov. 7, 2001 and we all miss her. She sure brightened things up when Harvel brought her home and she helped to make everything well at Herman Junction.