11 
11 Miss Kay and Phil are terrific grandparents to our children. We are always glad when the children—whether they are very young or whether they are young adults—can be with them because they always learn something valuable and because they come away knowing they are loved in very special ways. Miss Kay and Phil have established a powerful legacy of love and faith from which all of our children can benefit. They have so many good qualities to pass on to their grandchildren, and we look forward to seeing how these qualities manifest in their lives in the future.
My children are grown, but my daughters have a great relationship with Miss Kay and Phil. In fact, Miss Kay is both of my girls’ best friend. Both Anna and Alex have kind, loving, gentle hearts, and I know they learned these qualities from Miss Kay. I was not always the mother I needed to be for my children, but Miss Kay took up the slack, and they are awesome women today because of her.
Both girls have spent a lot of time with Miss Kay and Phil over the years. Anna started working for Miss Kay as a teenager, and although she now works full-time at Duck Commander, she also does special projects for Miss Kay and travels with her as much as possible. When asked about her relationship with Kay, Anna says, “I have been close to Mamaw Kay all my life, but even more so since I started working for her when I was fourteen or fifteen. Some people have grandmas they cannot open up to, but I can talk about everything with Mamaw Kay. I always turn to her when I need someone to talk to, and she gives really good advice. She knows about so many things because she has been there; she has lived it. And I can trust her. If I need to talk to her about something I do not want her to share, she will not tell it.
“Plus, Mamaw Kay is great when it comes to fashion. She knows what’s in style and stays up on trends, and I like that about her. But most of all, I have noticed in my life that some grandparents are quick to say ‘I love you,’ but they do not always do much to show it. With Mamaw Kay, I have always felt loved, and I know I always will. Every time we get together, when it’s time to go, we give each other a big hug and say, ‘I love you!’ I know Mamaw Kay really means those words when she says them to me, and I really mean them when I say them to her.”
Phil has always had a special place for my girls in his heart, but when they were young, he did not always know how to show it. As the years have mellowed him, he now has a great, loving relationship with my granddaughters. They adore Papaw Phil. My daughters are old enough to understand and appreciate all of Phil and Miss Kay’s good qualities. I believe they will inherit all of those attitudes and characteristics (they already demonstrate a lot of them), and I pray they will pass them down to their own children.
We all have so much to learn from Miss Kay and Phil. My prayer and hope is that my children have learned the valuable life lessons they have to share. I hope my children have learned from Phil and Miss Kay to look at everyone they meet with a nonjudgmental heart. I hope they have learned and will continue to learn that judgment belongs to God and we are here only to guide people to Him. I hope they have learned to laugh at the little things and the big things and to know that God has given them this life as a gift.
I hope my kids have learned a strong work ethic by watching their papaw Phil work on the land and in the yard cleaning fish, deer, and ducks. I hope they learn to be generous in feeding family, friends, and even strangers a good, home-cooked meal and that having an open-door policy is much more fulfilling than a closed, locked door with a security system. Most of all, I hope they have watched their grandparents stay real in an unreal world, learned that they can turn to God for all of their problems, and come to understand that they can love people enough to share that same God with everyone they meet.
The three traits I have tried to instill in my children since they were born are strength, love, and compassion. Both Phil and Miss Kay exemplify these traits, even though they express them in different ways. I hope my children will continue to develop strength based on a deep knowledge of whose they are (God’s) and understand that His power moves mountains. I pray they will always love others but love God above all else. I also hope and pray they will consistently demonstrate compassion by treating others with kindness and humility. They certainly see these qualities in their grandparents. I can already see these same traits unfolding in my children, and I look forward to seeing these good characteristics mature in them over the years to come.
Phil and Miss Kay will definitely leave a legacy of love for God, love for each other, and love for people in general. They both truly love and care for others, regardless of a person’s skin color or economic status, and will help anyone in any way they can. They are not very technological; they value quality time with people and good conversations over text messages and e-mail. They want everyone with whom they come in contact to know God. Both of them are dedicated to family and to the togetherness that comes from the family table, and I hope these things will continue in my children and throughout the generations of Robertsons to come.
I hope my children will always love to read and love to cook, as Miss Kay does. I pray they will inherit the way Miss Kay cheers for the underdog, lifts the brokenhearted, and gives to anyone in need. I hope they will also notice and learn from the fact that she loves and respects Phil and is a loyal, committed wife and friend to him.
I feel that my children have a rare opportunity to glean from Phil some things that have been lost in modern society. In many ways, he is “old school.” He still works his land and takes care of it, which is important for them to see. He is hardworking, industrious, and resourceful. He could not care less about the things of this world; he is totally nonmaterialistic but is a man who hungers and thirsts to know God. Sometimes I am amazed to see him studying his Bible in his recliner because he already knows it so well. But he continues to study diligently. His desire to walk in truth is deep, and his faithfulness to God is remarkable. I hope my children absorb these things from Phil and incorporate them into their lives to the greatest possible degree.
I also want our children, boy and girls, to have a love for the outdoors like Phil and Miss Kay have. Miss Kay loves nature and has a special affection for all kinds of animals. Phil loves having the ability to provide for his family through growing vegetables, fishing, frogging, and hunting deer and ducks. All of that knowledge from both of them has been passed to us, and it is so important that the generations who come after us not lose the ability to live off the land. Jep and I are actively teaching our children survival skills, in addition to the skills they observe and learn from Phil and Miss Kay.
I don’t mean to imply that we never buy meat or vegetables at the grocery store; we simply have the skills and ability to provide for our family from what God has created, and we have a love and appreciation for the outdoors, which Jep and I both got from our families.
I am aware that some people don’t like “meat eaters” because they think we are killing animals for the sake of killing, but that is not true. We are providing food for our family. One of my favorite meats to eat is deer. You can’t get a leaner, more healthy meat. I like certain parts of the deer better than others, but we do not waste anything. We often take deer meat and ducks to local neighborhoods in which people may not have the money to buy meat, and we just give it to them. We also share meat with widows in our church. The looks on their faces when we do this are priceless.
This combination of living off the land, being resourceful, not wasting anything, and sharing with others comes from Phil and Miss Kay. It’s the kind of thing they do, it’s what Jep and I do, and it’s what we are teaching our children to do.