There are two things you soon realize upon meeting Calvin Coday.
One, his faith and desire to help others was instilled in him at a young age, to the point he has traveled with wife Twila on multiple mission trips to Africa. Even today, at 95, he?s hankering for an opportunity to get back to help.
And two, he loves to tell stories.
Coday, who farmed until he was 92 and still exhibits an energy befitting somebody half his age, has begun putting some of his life stories onto the printed page.
His first memoir, recounting how he met his wife and their eventful first mission trip to Burundi, Africa, is now available for purchase.
Coday, 95, will sign copies of his book, ?Trips? Travels? Trials!? from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Friday at Faith & Farm, 101 E. Madison Ave. in downtown Iola.
The goal for publishing the book is two-fold.
First, he?s hoping the proceeds from sales will help fund a massive shipment of mission supplies to Africa. (The cost is pegged in excess of $4,000.)
The second is to celebrate God, ?to find a testament to how faithful God is to those who trust him.?
Calvin Coday Sr. will sign copies of his book, ?Trips… Travels… Trials!? Friday afternoon at Faith & Farm, 101 E. Madison Ave. in downtown Iola. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
CODAY?S faith was instilled in him as a youngster.
He was born in Commerce, Okla., not long before the stock market crash of 1929 sent him and his family to his grandfather?s farm in Jasper, Mo.
With both of his parents working on the farm, and his older sister in school, Calvin would stay at home with his grandfather.
?I?d be playing in the yard, and he?d take me by the hand,? Coday recalled.
?It?s time,? his grandfather would say, ?to talk to the Lord.?
The pair would sit in the bedroom, where Coday?s grandfather would read from his Bible, then get down on his knees, bury his face in his hands and pray.
?That happened every day at midmorning,? he said. ?I?d go out to play again, thinking, ?I don?t know who God is, but my grandfather sure does, and talks to him every day.??
