Empowering People By Providing Mobility & More
Apr 12
Remembering Earl Miner
From Mel West:
4-12-19
COME INTO OUR HOME ONCE AND YOU ARE A VISITOR. COME TWICE AND YOU ARE FAMILY: # 993
That was the spirit yesterday in Marshfield, MO., as family and friends gathered to celebrate the life of Earl L. Miner. Earl’s compassionate heart, brilliant mind and skilled hands have dramatically changed the lives of thousands of leg-handicapped persons in the developing world.
I met Earl in the 1970s when a Marshfield minister called me to suggest I should come and see what this Marshfield citizen was making, feeling it could fit into our overseas mission work.
Earl supported his large family (eight that were those of he and his wife, Leona, and 8 more that came into their family as foster children) working as a professional design engineer, But in his spare time he followed his life-long passion of creating new mechanical devices. I found him making a three-wheeled vehicle powered by an 8 hp. engine. It was a practical unit we named the TRAG, and eventually sent 350 of them to provide transportation for poor villagers overseas.
Then came the PET, now produced by Mobility Worldwide.
This three-wheeled, hand-cranked vehicle has provided the gift of mobility to 75,000 leg-handicapped in the developing world. Forced to crawl upon the ground, or be carried about, because of polio, landmines, birth defects and other causes, the PET lifts them up into a life of dignity, pride, comfort, hope and productivity.
Earl and I were very close, living and working together as brothers in Christ. Many, many hours, days and years we invested working together to relieve the suffering of those less fortunate. Alzheimer’s took his life, and his family is highly dedicated to and active in the organized work to rid the world of that evil.
The Psalmist cried out, “Bless Thou, Oh Lord, the works of my hands.” Those of us, family and friends, who gathered yesterday affirmed that the works of Earl Miner’s hands were indeed blessed.
Mel West