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Valentines' Day is a time of mixed memories for me. I remember cutting red hearts to paste on white paper doilies, and coating heart-shaped sugar cookies with red icing. However, when I was 15 years old my Grandfather Kump died on Valentine's Day. Now two of my grandchildren are the same age I was when my grandfather died.
During this centennial year for the Kump house, I am often reminded of the history of the Kump family here in Elkins. It is amazing how much has changed since 1924. Nevertheless, the City of Elkins is essentially much the same. I remember the Citizens National Bank on the main floor of the old Heavner Building on the south side of Third Street. The law office of Kump, Kump, and Wooddell was upstairs near the Roberts medical office. Now the Citizens bank is in a new building on the north side of the street, and most lawyers and doctors have moved their offices to newer buildings. We still have responsible banking and professional services available in Elkins, and there are several buildings being restored.
When I was the age of my grandchildren, I would hear my grandfather say: "I'm just an old flat tire." Then he would pause, and if there were not objections made by anyone else, he would add: "but I'm doing the best I can." Then I thought that his apologetic tone was from discouragement in his old age. Even so, my mother and I would use the line, "I'm doing the best I can," when we were facing a task that seemed insurmountable.
Now that I am in the age range where H.G. Kump was when I first really remember him best, and I understand that what he was saying was a statement of undaunted courage for a person of any age.
A few weeks ago when we were celebrating the centennial of Citizens Bank of West Virginia, I noticed that Kump's biographer Steven Gatrell (1979) had quoted H.G. Kump when he was becoming the first president of Citizens Bank.
He wrote in a letter to a banker in Maryland, "I approach these duties with much hesitation. I am a lawyer and a farmer -- not a banker, but I intend to do the best I can."(Gatrell p. 51).
Although he did not feel that he had enough experience to be the Citizens Bank president, he took this responsibility. Now I know that Granddaddy Kump said he was doing the best he could throughout life, even when he was at the peak of his intellectual powers. It was not an apology. It was a statement of his courage and commitment to doing the best he could each time he said it.
Over the years my mother and I learned to recognize that if we would do the best we could, that was all we could do. If each of us honestly tries to do our best, the world will be a better place.