Arthur Saxton

2017 ATCB Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Arthur L. Saxton

Arthur was born to a retired coal miner, John Saxton and his wife, Alice in 1946. Arthur was reared in Big Stone Gap, VA. along with his older brother, John Wayne who was very protective of his younger brother. Arthur attended Bland Elementary School and graduated from James A. Bland High School in 1964. He also attended Knoxville College and later graduated from the University of Louisville with a BA degree. He married Genella Kaye (Howie) who he met at Knoxville College. They have a daughter, Lisa and a son, Raru. They also have seven grandchildren.

After attending Knoxville College, Arthur was drafted into the US Army and spent three years serving his country in the U S Army’s Signal Corp. He was honorably discharged as a SGT E5. After leaving the military, Arthur moved to Louisville Kentucky and was employed for seven years as a Credit Manager for Westinghouse Credit Corporation. After leaving Westinghouse, he was employed by Kay Jewelers as a Regional Credit Manager where he was responsible for overseeing an office granting credit to customers of Kay’s stores in Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Arthur left Kay Jewelers after a year and went to the Postal Service. He was employed by the United States Postal Service from 1980 to 2016. While there, Arthur was awarded numerous achievement awards including the second highest award given by the Postal Service which is the Meritorious Service Award.

His hobbies are tinkering with electronic gadgets, fishing, photography, flying drones and writing. Speaking of writing, Arthur has written six books, Unseen Love, Hidden Away, God in Mathematics, Baby Power, Why Are We Here? and Father Forgive Them for They Know Not What They Do. In addition to his six books, Arthur has written two plays, Speak to My Friend, and Struggling, which have been performed in Louisville.

Profound Publishing says that they are proud to publish his work. His books live up to their motto, “Profound books by profound authors”. The publishers also say, that “His religious writings are intended to encourage the reader to search scripture in order to come to a fuller understanding of God’s word”. Arthur’s Major Life Event is Getting to Know Christ. He states, “God has opened many doors for me in spite of my unworthiness and has pushed me through them even when I was trying to go the opposite way. All I can say is, But God.”

Arthur is very active in Emmanuel Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He and his wife have been members of this church for many years. During Black History Month, he and his wife can be found reading some of his short stories to the congregation. Arthur has also served as a trustee, co-chair of the Finance Committee and has with his wife; Genella Kaye created and conducted marriage seminars. In addition, in 1979 Arthur computerized and installed the first Church Management System at Emmanuel. Recently, he installed a new updated Church Management System system and provided training to the staff for it.

Arthur laughs about how Mrs. Murphy, his high school English teacher used to mark up his writings with her red pencils. She would also give him some choice words. Mrs. Murphy would be so impressed with the man that Arthur has become. He never gave up and continues to grow in a very positive way.

We nominate Arthur Lee Saxton for the Lifetime Achievement Award from ATCB Alumni Association Reunion for 2017. We are very proud of his success. Arthur is a role model for our community.

Books by Arthur L. Saxton

Submitted by John Wayne Saxton (brother)

Being the youngest of our father’s 22 children, there was a fair amount of competition between the two of us; and Arthur was always looking for ways to demonstrate how intelligent he really was to his older brother. When you are children, a 2-year difference in ages looms much larger and my brother sometimes had an obvious need to demonstrate that he was as smart as or smarter than me.

A case in point was Arthur’s preference of choosing a nickel over a dime. It was not out of a sense of generosity or respectful humility towards his older brother, but rather the mind of a schemer who reasoned that the nickel was logically worth more because It was the larger coin. Therefore, after unsuccessfully attempting to explain the true monetary value of the nickel in comparison with the dime—despite its smaller size—I gladly accommodated his insistence to be given the 5-cent piece and allowed him the privilege of taking advantage of his “less intelligent” brother.

As we have grown from adolescents to young men to seniors sharing our “golden years,” the miles that have always separated us have never diminished our love and concern for one another. We still compete at playing chess, shooting pool and “one-upping” each other whenever we get together; and which I still haven’t read all of his books, I am blessed to be his brother and so thankful that he has always been there for me.