Not long ago at one of our Landowner Legacy Communication© seminars, I was picking up and packing our material while Allen was answering questions from a group of three or four people.
All of a sudden there was a gentlemen right beside me which kind of startled me. I recognized him as a member of the group that had sat up front, but he had not participated to a great extent during the seminar, kind of kept to himself, and appeared to be in his own thoughts.
He began by telling me he was 85 years old, and his wife had just died in the last year. He said they had spent their entire lifetime acquiring forest land and had about 1,000 acres when she died. I could see he was starting to tear up thinking about her, but when he said their children had no interest in the land, the tears became increasingly evident.
He said he guessed there was nothing left to do but sell all the land after all their years of hard work.
By this time I was thinking I may begin to cry with him and was wishing Allen would hurry up and come to my rescue. I really did not know what to tell him or how to handle any discussion this gentleman might throw at me. Then he said something that I will always remember.
If someone had told me and my wife years ago to have regular family meetings with my children as you and your husband have suggested, I might have been able to create and maintain enough family interest that I would not have to sell the land now.
He wiped his tears away, shook my hand, said thanks for the information, and repeated what he had just said. As he turned and walked off, I finally began tearing up not only for him but for the fact that we trying to help others save the legacy in their family tree farms. Maybe there will not be many others that I will have to wonder “what can I tell him” if we continue our efforts.
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