Greatness is measured in many ways.

I like to measure someone’s greatness by the way they respond to being reminded of it.

Gene Edwards died this morning. He lived in Amarillo with his wife, Elaine. He was a great man who I loved dearly.

My wife and I were sitting in church this morning when our pastor informed the congregation of Gene’s passing. I gasped. No, I wasn’t surprised. We had known he’d been ill for some time. We spoke with his wife the previous week and she told us he wasn’t doing well.

Gene accomplished a lot in his long and rich life. He was a successful banker who had earned a law degree. I don’t think he practiced much law. He came to Amarillo and got into the banking business.

Our paths crossed initially long after he had retired from banking, but we would see him and Elaine regularly at our church. We had acquired some knowledge over the years about the things Gene had done and the careers he had launched.

He was humble and faithful.

Our son moved to Amarillo right after graduating from college in late 1995. My wife and I had been looking for a church home. We found one at First Presbyterian, where we made Gene and Elaine’s acquaintance. Our son would start attending church there as well.

One day, I had the pleasure of introducing our son to Gene. I said, “Gene, this is Peter, my son. Peter, this is one of Amarillo’s truly great men, Gene Edwards.” Gene became a bit flustered. He shook my son’s hand, we exchanged some small talk and pleasantries and went our separate ways.

Later that afternoon, the phone rang. It was Gene. He called me to thank me for the introduction I made when he and our son met.

He thanked me.

That is the first — and likely final — time anyone’s ever done that.

Therein lies a key measure of Gene Edwards’s greatness.

What a man.