When I am gone and my friends gather I hope they will do a memorial like this one. Everyone gathered and shared their memories and songs and laughed and cried and wallowed in the good feeling and communal spirit of the man and his life. I saw elderly men and women who had been his longest friends and young kids who had learned at his knee. I heard the story of the bees (Charley, you have to include that here) and the story of his cow's trip from Maine to Long Island.

I even was allowed, and welcomed, to say a brief piece and sing a song. It was a shanty and the gathered friends and family gave a rousing support on the chorus and refrain lines.