Billy Graham's nephew isn't mourning his passin

ANDERSON, S.C. — In the Rev. Billy Graham's family, there is a legend that has been passed down for generations.

It goes like this: Years ago, when he and his younger brother Melvin were standing on the family's dairy farm in Charlotte, they saw a plane meant for advertising. In the sky, the plane drew out the letters "G.P."

Billy Graham looked at it and said, "I think that means 'go preach.'"

His brother looked at it and said, "I think it means 'go plow.'"

So Melvin Graham ran the dairy farm.

And Billy Graham spent decades advancing the Gospel of Christ.

More: Details on Billy Graham's passing, funeral service released

More: Billy Graham: Pastor to presidents for more than 50 years

More: Billy Graham, America's pastor, has died

When the Rev. Graham, 99, died Wednesday, his nephew Deryl Graham relayed that family story to the Independent Mail. And he vowed that, as far as he knows, every word of it is true.

Deryl Graham, who lives in Anderson, said the man he calls "Uncle Billy" was the same person in private as he was in the public eye.

"People who saw him on TV or during one of his crusades might think there's no way he could be that good and straightforward in real life," Graham said. "But he was. He was meek, and he was honest, and he was pure. He wouldn't even get into an elevator with a woman alone, because he didn't want to be accused of anything scandalous. He believed he was supposed to do the Lord's work. And he never altered the course."

Deryl Graham's childhood memories are sprinkled with recollections of summers spent with his Uncle Billy and the reverend's son, his cousin the Rev. Franklin Graham.

Billy Graham long had a home in the North Carolina mountains near Montreat, which his nephew described as "so far away from town paths that you have to know where the turns are to get to it."

source: usatoday