Posted on 08/10/2017 3:01:25 PM PDT by wardaddy
My best friend since since summer pads training August 1971 at Jackson Prep in Jackson Mississippi died at Driftwood nursing hospice in Long Beach Mississippi on the gulf coast last week.
He'd been in hospice first in Jackson then down there since February and his 6 foot 3 frame had wasted from 180 down to 103 after complications from diabetes and heart failure and pancreatic failure and a fungal cyst in his lungs which was inoperable and of course horrific neuropathy all brought on by alcohol abuse which he'd quit too late a few years ago at age 55
His sister a devoted catholic gal from Pass Christian and I and my family was about all he had or wanted these last months
I'd made the trek from middle Tenneseee ever 2-3 weeks these past six months and it's the best thing I ever did in my life
I wouldn't trade it for anything even though it was often painful to witness his aplomb and bravery in the face of a hard death was inspiring to me and my sons and daughters
He and I had braved many a war zone and dangerous environs through truly serious life threatening cisrcumstance from Sierra Leone to Colombia to Nicaragua to Zaire to Nicaragua and Honduras and El Salvador and Amazonia
He never flinched even when so called professionals ran or broke weak
And he could handle wet work though he tempered my anger gratefully which saved us the consequence that would have wrought
But he loved drink same as all the men in every generation of his paternal line since the Reconstruction
We had parted ways 15 years ago given his lack of appreciation for my newfound domesticated bliss with Wifey
Kind of went off the deep end
But when his sister let me know it was bad I reentered his life and in some ways our friendship became even more really
And he loved my children and vice versa
They had always had heard of him and then got to know him
When I first went to the facility all the nurses and orderlies asked me if he was just making stuff up about his life of exploits and I informed them hell yes he'd did those things and then some....
It took him a while and he faded slowly
Smoked like a chimney..When he could ....Reds naturally
I'd light them for him ....I quit in 1990
His record was 23 end to end ....crazy to any smoker
His last breath was drawn on a Marlboro Red which is just about how I woulda figured it
I think the lung thing got him...
He was a very very good looking young man..similar to Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mohicans
Women threw themselves at him all his life but like most alcoholics the love of his life was booze
He did quit eventually all on his own cold turkey and almost died but he eschewed rehab
He did believe in twelve steps though
I've got two stories that describe his crazy fearlessness
Poets bar Jackson Miss in 1985 he spies this lovely blonde who's alas with her husband
He pinches her butt anyhow and grins under the influence
He and hubster take it outside and damn if hubster doesn't take his Bmw 528 and drive into him and EC bounces up and over the hood onto the pavement .....hubster wheels around to now run him slap over
EC is of course defiant holding his ground already beat up with road rash etc. and fortunately some bystanders got him out of he way at last moment
Guy was from the delta and unknown ...he skated
Another time I'm looking for him late at night at the reservoir clubs which stayed open till dawn
I finally reach the edgwater club and I see a crowd circle in the gravel lot
Well we all know what that means I knew I'd found him
There he was same sort of jealous husband conflict and he's beat down bloodied and torn at 2am and folks see me and figure i can get him to listen
His first words are a command to stay away Charlie i got this as he's pulling himself up from the dirt....lol..
His opponent a Jack Lambert lookalike is begging me to please get him outta there....but he wouldn't listen
Fortunately I had my Arkansas cotton farmers daughter girlfriend with me and he adored her
She's out there in her short short cutoffs and tube top and dr scholls wooden clickety clack sandals (the era) begging him to please leave with us
He did finally to the emergency room for stictches and wound cleansing
He was crazy but just brave as hell...
Never whined or feared death....
His sister and I found him almost dead two weeks ago and we both started crying over his bed and damn if he didn't wake up and scold us for being crying assed pu$$ies and he was ready to go smoke..lol
You should have seen me trying to testify to him about salvation at his sisters insistence...i did my best......I ain't no parson
He finally gave in to what he knew was right in his heart and how he'd been reared
And I'm sure glad he did
junior high school and high school and ole miss and a life of adventure together
A helluva ride
Edwin I salute you
Flawed like me but so much braver
Godspeed
I’m so sorry for your loss. I will be praying for his family and friends.
RIP
Wow...sounds like a flawed Hollywood movie character for sure...sorry for your loss :(.
Well, some people try to keep their bodies pure and pristine all the way to the end. And that gives the mortician an easier job and, I suppose, the worms a nicer feast.
But why. Like St. Paul wrote in the bible, his life is “poured out” for God’s sake, or another take on the word used is “spent.” I’d like to say, when I go through the pearly gates, “Glory to God, what a ride!”
There’s a happy medium, of course, and maybe the guy did overdo it on the alcohol. Some people use it to numb out memories that they’re afraid to face. And that’s a shame. But I hope he did end up putting his trust in the good Lord to carry him and his burden. After having failed, perhaps, in doing it his own way. That helps the memories better than anything in a bottle can — God will put them in a new context. Not just forgiving, but redeeming the circumstances in which they occurred. Just because He is God and He is who He is.
Anyhow, the Lord, who came into the world as Jesus Christ, is an even better and braver Person than anyone on earth, and certainly we have known some humdingers such as your faulty but yet hearty friend. May His glory shine through many, many people, and even through you as you remember what He can do.
Thank you for sharing Husband had a Buddy like him also, He died 3 weeks after my Husband they were tight though Miles apart.
Rode hard and put up wet
Sounds like a helluva guy. My condolences on your loss.
Sounds like an American Original, my friend. Prayers that he may rest in peace and that you and yours will be comforted...
Sorry for the loss of your friend, your story reminds me of Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way”.
Thanks for sharing.....
‘Cause there’s only one trip, my friend.
So sorry for your irreplaceable loss.
Blessings to all.
RIP Edwin!
What a great eulogy wardaddy I almost feel like I knew him. What a great use of a life, he will find all kind of like souls up in heaven, sure would be fun to listen to those war stories.
You were fortunate to have him in your life.
I am very sorry for the loss of your friend. It is obvious that you loved him very much.
RIP, Edwin
No words.
But a certain measure of understanding.
And a prayer.
We are all going to go, what will matter is how we lived.
Excellent story my FRiend.
That was very kind of you to write that. I really enjoyed reading it as my husband had a similar friend; his name was Sam.
One thing nice about people like Edwin (and Sam). They are “real.” Edwin will be okay. His sister will be praying for him. I am so sorry for your loss.
Prayers.
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