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ACTOR-SINGER JERRY REED DEDICATES LIFE TO
HELPING
VETERANS -- "I promised God that in this last
chapter of
my life, I'm going to work for these boys and
girls.
I'm using the time I've got left to help."
Jerry Reed
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Surgery turned Reed from a taker to a giver
Veterans are high priority in new life of
aiding others
By TIM GHIANNI
Staff Writer
When Jerry Reed was hot, well, as his most-famous song goes, he was hot.
A recording star, guitar virtuoso and co-conspirator in the Smokey and
the Bandit films, Reed strayed from his faith.
"How far can you go? How far is far, son? When you're gone, you're gone.
I went to hell in a hand basket.
"I should have been dead more than once. I left God, but he never left
me," says Reed, his voice softened by an ongoing battle with pneumonia
he contracted during a February visit to a veterans hospital.
"I'm joined at the hip with these boys," Reed says of the veterans. "God
instructed me" to help, now that he has become reacquainted with his
faith.
"Without their sacrifice, what they done for us and this country, we'd
be nothing."
In Reed's case the pneumonia takes a toll on lungs weakened by asthma
and emphysema. Doctors tell him he'll be fully recovered from the
pneumonia in a month or so.
While wishing he'd bundled up more, he doesn't regret his winter visit
to the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Biloxi, Miss. Coming
to the aid of veterans is his primary calling in a life that he has
turned to helping others.
Reed's life of giving back comes after decades of living at a white-hot
pace. The transition from a hardscrabble upbringing in Atlanta foster
homes to guitar-wielding superstar and Burt Reynolds' running buddy
turned his head.
"I was king. I paid the salaries. I told people to jump; they jumped. I
got what I wanted. I did what I wanted. I lived the way I wanted.
"Don't tell me God wasn't working in my life, because I did everything I
could to screw it up and here I am, 70 years old."
His spiritual rebirth came after open-heart surgery in which "I nearly
died on the operating table" five years ago. The fact he lived spurred
him to examine his soul.
"For 50 years, all I'd done was take, take, take. I decided from now on
it is going to be giving. And I'm way behind. We're all way behind, son.
"We live this life like what's down here is what it's all about. We're
temporary, son, like a wisp of smoke."
Long-time chum Buzz Cason, Nashville-bred 1960s rock 'n' roller,
songwriter and producer, remembers when Reed's focus changed.
Cason hosts monthly spiritual gatherings for music industry folks at his
Berry Hill studio. The Giving In Faith Together group allows members to
share testimony that saves souls while attempting to rescue lives of
pickers and singers in need.
Pickers, singers get help
When the need is great, they also hold fund-raising concerts, such as
the June 22 benefit at Douglas Corner to help Reed's former bass player,
Richard Shook, and his family with medical costs.
"Richard was with me for years," says Reed of the bassist who has been
crippled by a stroke.
"He could sing that James Brown stuff. I never had a bass man who put it
in the pocket that hard. He played just like he sung."
Reed's health concerns will keep him from the benefit, but he welcomes
the chance to talk about his pals, "a wonderful group of people," whose
faith pushes them to take the stage.
It was after his heart surgery, when he was figuring out how to make up
for life squandered, that he bumped into Cason, who invited him to join
the monthly "GIFT" gatherings.
"He said, 'Son, once a month isn't enough for me,' " Cason remembers.
Once a week wasn't enough either, Reed adds. "I needed more than a
Sunday morning sermon and nice songs. I needed some Bible study. I
wanted to get immersed in it. I was coming back to the Lord."
His need spurred the formation of a weekly Bible study group, presided
over by the Rev. Jerry Winfield.
For Reed it's one more opportunity to study the Word and to talk about
the value of giving back. His calling to help veterans never strays far
from his heart.
"I promised God that in this last chapter of my life, I'm going to work
for these boys and girls," he says. "I'm using the time I've got left to
help. I know where I'm going and I know what I'm supposed to do while
I'm still here."
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Larry Scott --
