At 97, Billy Graham suspects people don’t remember him, son Franklin says

In a report posted Wednesday on his ministry’s website, Franklin Graham says his famous father, Billy Graham, isn’t convinced people still remember him or his 60-year career as a globe-trotting evangelist and pastor to U.S. presidents.

“He doesn’t think anybody remembers who he is,” the report quotes the younger Graham as telling a crowd, with a laugh, in Juneau, Alaska, last week. “So he’ll say, ‘If you meet anybody who remembers me, tell ’em hello.’ ”

The report, featured on the website for the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, also gives an update on the health and daily life of Billy Graham, who still lives in his mountaintop home in Montreat and will turn 98 in November. And it quotes Franklin Graham as recently telling another crowd, in Olympia, Wash., that his father thinks he’ll make it to the century mark.

“When he was 90, he told all of us he was gonna live to 95,” Franklin Graham said. “When he approached 95, he moved the goalpost. He said, ‘I’m gonna live to be 100.’ … I hope he does.”

The report also quoted a recent letter Franklin Graham sent to friends and supporters of the ministry.

It said that his father has poor eyesight, is hard of hearing, uses a wheelchair and is cared for in his home around the clock.

“One of the things he enjoys is sitting on the front porch and looking out over the mountains on days when the weather is good and he feels up to it,” Franklin wrote in the letter. “He watches news with the help of a large-screen TV.”

And, his son added, “his ministry is now praying, and he looks forward to reports of what God is doing around the world. He always responds by saying, ‘Praise the Lord’ as he points upward.”

Franklin Graham is spending this election year holding prayer rallies in all 50 state capitals, including Juneau and Olympia. He’ll end his “Decision America” tour with an Oct. 13 prayer rally in Raleigh.

This week’s report ended with an invitation for people to give a financial contribution to the BGEA.

This story was originally published July 7, 2016 at 9:47 PM with the headline "At 97, Billy Graham suspects people don’t remember him, son Franklin says."