YOU da MAN May 6 is when this story begins, when Walter Lewis McBride was born and raised right here in Medon, Tennessee, The beloved son of Velma Croom and Moses McBride, born in a poor family, but managed to walk in pride, He was the sixth child of number thirteen, and he proved early in life on whom they could depend. He found favor with the one Elder Johnny Marshall, who saw something special in the little lad named Walter, He went to school with his feet cold and wet, but being the smart young man he was, he figured out he could warm them by placing them inside his little hat, His education did not go beyond eighth grade. But how would we have known that with all the accomplishments in life he's made? He was hired out by the family to help ends meet, and regardless of what he may have suffered then, he did not suffer defeat, At age eighteen, he married his childhood sweetheart, Lizzie Embary, who is still the most precious part of his memory. He found himself in World War II as a very young man, where his strength and courage would be challenged once again, We're reminded of how this man shed tears when he realized he had to be willing to kill or be killed. He soon returned home to his wife, where Lewis was born, his first little boy. Then came Charlene their baby girl, his little bundle of joy; followed by Tilmon, Shirley, Clara, Michael, and Wayne. I know raising seven kids sometimes brought pain, Later in life came Chiquita, to their surprise, but it didn't take long for them to see she was a jewel in disguise. He worked long and hard as a young dad, to give his family, what he never had, He took a job at the railroad tracks to provide a better life for his family and no turning back, At some point in life, he saw the saints needed a church; being the man he was, even though not the pastor, he got busy and went to work. He helped build this little church on the hill and since that time, he has never been still, He's pastored here now for more than forty years, and I know, there has been blood, sweat, and tears. He's instilled in the saints how to study the Word of God; to live by it and apply it to our hearts, God has blessed Bishop McBride to know the Bible from A to Z, And that mind of his ... oh how amazing to me. He's been blessed to reach age eight-four, and we all are praying for more and more and more, He's traveled many places in this big old world with wife, Lizzie, by his side, and sometimes their little girl, so as we travel through just a small portion of his life and also remembering his darling wife. We think of the words of President Barack Obama when we chanted, "Yes We Can!" But the saints of Whitehall Church of God say to you, "Bishop McBride, You da Man!" Penned by First Lady Sandra Hych October 2010