A Sad Day...Sort Of...

Yesterday was a sad day. Mi Espousa (a little Mex lingo here) and I first went to the Frontier Hall Senior Citizen Activities Center in the morning and sang, danced and etc'ed for an hour and a quarter, entertaining those old folks (some are older than are we) and that was fine. We had a nice time and came away with a two dollar and fifty cent free lunch apiece and fourteen bucks in tips and all (up to that time) was well.

Then we had a sad task to do. A good friend of ours, a man who had danced a dance or two at just about every jam session in which we participated, had gone to the great jam session in the sky and we were asked to be part of a special jam session in his honor. We were, of course, happy to be part of his jam session memorial. His name is Larry Henke and he was a really good fellow.

He always started his dance with a little jig. Then he corralled his little old lady friend and they danced the session away. He was a red faced cowboy type, with always a smile on his face and a nice word to say to whomever.

We (mi Espousa -a little more Mex lingo here)and I were about the last of the jammers to get there. 'There' is a town hall in Ono, a little burg about twenty miles west of Anderson and is Larry's home town. His family were all there, of course, and the other half of the town were there, too.

We set up our equipment and did a couple of songs and then the family came in with their guitars, mandolins and fiddles. They wanted to sing a few of Larry's favorite songs in his honor and then say a few words about the man. It was very touching.

They did their songs, each taking turns and some of them sounded very good.

Then some of them talked about their Grandpa or Father, whichever was the case. Several very entertaining stories were told about Larry. I must say I was a bit surprised at some of the stories about his various prowesses at some things. I won't go into them. It's enough to say, the man was much more accomplished than one might think.

The songs and stories were over. There were some laughs, some smiles and some tears. It was sad, indeed, to contemplate the end of a man who had made such a positive impact on so many people. I didn't know him well but what I knew of him was pleasant. He didn't play music and he didn't sing but I know he had as nice a time as we in the jam session band did. We will certainly miss him at the sessions. With the twenty or so jam session musicians and singers who knew him and his extensive family, I only hope that many people will miss me when I go to the Lead Guitar Picker's Jam Session in the sky!

It was a sort of sad day,-but it was also a sort of happy day!

Later...