I was blessed to able to attend Burl Ives final public concert in Anacortes, Washington. He was still somewhat ill, after semi recovering from a very serious illness. His performance was magical and spellbinding. I had started a corresponding with him when I was sixteen years of age, and he was always faithful to my letters.


But due to age and illness, Burl needed to have a prompter who knelt by the front edge of the stage. It was like Burl and the prompter were one person … the prompter seemed to know when Burl was going to forget the next line of a song, and we could see and hear, as this prompter would give him the clue he needed.

I was startled by this, but very grateful that Burl Ives had the guts to do it … I'm sure it wasn't an easy task for him. After that concert, I was again blessed by attending a private reception for him where I was able to thank him for inspiring me throughout all of my wn singing career. bob(deckman)nelson