Well , here it goes . I was also an old friend of Pats and spent a great deal of time with him and subsequently with his wife " The Great White Russian . It seems Pat and I had a proclivity for nick names . I was called "Big Mouth De Fisherman " , there were others such as "Attorney
Fa Fa , "De Person " Hot Lips Trulock ", De Gimp , T H E Freak , The Sloth , De Weasel , Pops,et alia. I met The Fat Boy at a community meeting in Indianapolis . We were both involved in community organization and both admired Sol Alinsky. We talked it over at lunch ,more booze than sustenance . I had seen him perform at "The 11th Hour " coffee house in Indianapolis and was working at another coffee house in Indpls. at the same time .I played a bit and would soon learn from Pat to play Banjo and Fiddle . We really hit it off . We both loved liquor ,drugs , traditional music , and women , in that order . That's just the tip of the iceberg in a relationship that lasted until his death . We had both said we wouldn't make it past 35 . I did and he didn't .I don't know why . I heard from him that he had gotten sober for 6 months and was back on his feet again . He said he was collecting music again and was going to New York City . The next I heard was from Helene , his wife , that he had died . She said he had neglected to take his blood pressure medicine and had returned to drinking . It hurt alot to here he passed . He was one of two real friends I had left at that point. He was among many things an ordained minister and said he was ordained in a bar somewhere in Chicago . Thus he obtained the nick name of " The Right Reverend Balloon, or Balloon for short . This because he was always right if not always reverent , fat as a bright red balloon and had checks in the name of Reverened Dunford but no checking account . They were very handy on long road trip binges . I need to order my memory but will have many subequent posts . In closing I must say I still talk to him in my heart , he's still funny , sincere , generous kind and above all a great friend .