Bad news... Wayne Scott

[Judy G. Russell]

I posted this in the Parlor for the game players but know everyone will want to know...

I got home tonight from yet another road trip to find a card from Wayne's children announcing his passing in Hawaii on the 6th of March. In accordance with his wishes, there will be no memorial service; his and his beloved Marian's ashes will be spread at sea near Hawaii.

Sigh... I sure hate to lose the good ones, and Wayne most definitely was a good one.

RIP Doc.

[davidh]

Highly qualified curmudgeons are hard to find :confused:

[Judy G. Russell]

Highly qualified curmudgeons are hard to find :confused:Yeah, most of us can't come close to matching his credentials for the job!

[ndebord]

Highly qualified curmudgeons are hard to find :confused:

David,

Very hard to find and he was a jewel among men.

[fhaber]

I'm pausing a moment to remember Wayne.

[Judy G. Russell]

I'm pausing a moment to remember Wayne.With a smile on your face, I hope. He would want that.

[Mike]

Thanks for posting the sad news, Judy.

We're losing too many.

I'm glad to hear the family is respecting his wishes.

[Judy G. Russell]

We're losing too many.Ain't that the truth...

[PeteHall]

I was going to post Christina Rosetti's 'Remember' or Jennie Joseph's 'Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple' (OK, so the sex was wrong) but in the end decided on one by Roger McGough.

I think it's the way he would have like to have gone...

Let Me Die a Youngman's Death

Let me die a youngman's death
not a clean and inbetween
the sheets holywater death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful out of breath death

When I'm 73
and in constant good tumour
may I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an allnight party

Or when I'm 91
with silver hair
and sitting in a barber's chair
may rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
and give me a short back and insides

Or when I'm 104
and banned from the Cavern
may my mistress
catching me in bed with her daughter
and fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
and throw away every piece but one

Let me die a youngman's death
not a free from sin tiptoe in
candle wax and waning death
not a curtains drawn by angels borne
'what a nice way to go' death

Roger McGough

[he's a Liverpool lad and contemporary of The Beatles (he was in The Scaffold) hence the reference to The Cavern Club]

[Judy G. Russell]

I was going to post Christina Rosetti's 'Remember' or Jennie Joseph's 'Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple' (OK, so the sex was wrong) but in the end decided on one by Roger McGough. I think it's the way he would have like to have gone...LOVE it, and yes... that's exactly the way he would have liked to have gone.

[PeteHall]

I think you can also add...

Pay-back Time

O Lord, let me be a burden on my children
For long they've been a burden upon me.
May they fetch and carry, clean and scrub
And do so cheerfully.

Let them take it in turns at putting me up
Nice sunny rooms at the top of the stairs
With a walk-in bath and lift installed
At great expense.....Theirs.

Insurance against the body-blows of time
Isn't that what having children's all about?
To bring them up knowing that they owe you
And can't contract out?

What is money for but to spend on their schooling?
Designer clothes, mindless hobbies, usual stuff.
Then as soon as they're earning, off they go
Well, enough's enough.

It's been a blessing watching them develop
The parental pride we felt as each one grew.
But Lord, let me be a burden on my children
And on my children's children too.

Roger McGough, Selected Poems (Penguin)