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
Sorry about your loss.
Good friends only come along a few times in life,you did your best you can look back with pride.
Thoughts and prayers for your friend and his family and you and yours. What you did is a sacred honor and I’m glad you were able to help him on his journey
Glad he died sober tjough too young.
May the angels sing him home
My sincerest condolences. Your post shows that he will be missed, but he will also be remembered. Who could ask for more?
Sorry for your friend. Some of the places you mention...I can’t help but think you and I probably crossed paths in the 60’s through the 80’s at Poets, Main Harbor, The Dock, TGI Fridays and other places...rock concerts maybe...anyway again, sorry for the loss of your friend.
Rest in peace Edwin. You did your best Wardaddy, stood by your friend and gave his sister a shoulder to lean on. You are a good man and a true friend.
You were clearly a good friend. My pray is for him and you.
RIP
You’re a good friend
Thank you, wardaddy.
What a ride to read. A deeply moving life story, and a fine witness to an especially great mutual love and loyalty between friends, like you and Edwin, and reunited as if you had missed not a day with one another.
RIP, Edwin.
Condolences to you, wardaddy.
Oh, and one other thing...If we didn’t run into each other you probably heard my voice...WZZQ FM Rock 102.9.
I know you remember that great station...at least at one time it was.
There’s only one way to go, and that’s your own way!
What a great friendship you had with him.
Men like him are rare.
Thanks for sharing his story and giving me a few laughs.
I am sorry for your loss. You are a true friend.
Sorry for your loss. Good read, it was easy to visualize the guy.
May your heart heal with great memories. What a friend you were to the end! Got him back to his Christian roots and beautiful memories shared in his honor.
Wishing you His peace that passes all our human understanding...glory to God!
Lucky, lucky Edwin having you for a friend!
RIP
So sorry for the loss of your friend. That was a great tribute, and I know you could have written a book on your adventures.
Sorry for your loss, but I never did cotton much to mean drunks. Glad to hear the guy with the BMW got away.
I am so sorry to hear of your friend’s passing.
We are all flawed beings, but we can still give from the heart. It sounds like he did and was a close buddy to you. Prayers for you, your family, and of course for him and his family. Thank you for sharing, wardaddy.
R.I.P. Edwin
So sorry for your loss. He sounds like my younger brother who passed in April, age 57. Heart attack....he had a few puffs before leaving for the hospital because he figured it would be a while before he could smoke again. Broken-hearted here. My sympathies to you.
Beautifully written tribute to your friend, they don’t make ‘em like that any more. Thanks for sharing Edwin with us.
“Livin on the road my friend,
Was gonna keep you free and clean
Now you wear your skin like iron
Your breath as hard as kerosene
You weren’t your mama’s only boy,
but her favorite one it seemed
She began to cry when you said goodbye
And sank into your dreams..
Townes van Zandt version, for your friend.
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