Man who can't read spends a year hand-copying the Bible

HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) -- It certainly would have been enough of a challenge if 64-year-old Truman Meredith had merely decided that he was going to hand-copy the entire Bible.

But the semiretired construction worker's accomplishment is more extraordinary, considering that he cannot read what he wrote.

Hour after hour, night after night for the past year, Meredith sat at the dining room table in his apartment and meticulously printed the words of the entire Bible onto loose-leaf notebook paper.

''I didn't think it would mean that much to a lot of people,'' he said. ''But it means a lot to me. It made me feel good to do this. It really did.''

Meredith copied the Bible to express his newfound religious faith. He said he hasn't always been religious, but health problems about a decade ago motivated him to change his lifestyle.

''In 1990, I had a heart attack, and I was a sinner when I went into the hospital,'' Meredith said. When he was better, he and his late wife started going to church and became Christians.

Meredith was only a boy when he had to leave school and go to work with his father to help support their family, which included 16 children.

''I know my letters, but I can't read. I want to learn how. It would tickle me to death to read that Bible,'' he said, pointing to his stack of 14 notebooks.