Tribute to Dee at
Poodie’s Hilltop Bar & Grill
Around 300 people crammed themselves into Poodie’s Hilltop Bar & Grill, coming from all across the state and in some cases out of state. Big storms rumbled through, adding to the excitement.
Poodie’s offers only beer, served that day by the very busy bartender Rhonda. But that didn’t stop folks from passing around tequila and aged bourbon to make toasts in honor of Dee. Let’s just say spirits were high, very high.
Just in case Dee decided to drop by, his legs were waiting in his wheelchair next to Mama Locke. How a Mexican guy ended up with white-man's feet we'll never figure out. But the red-painted pedicure was from a young friend passing through who was bored. She forgot to leave him the nail-polish remover!
That’s Mama, aka Gloria, with son Poodie.
Even one of Dee’s old legs made an appearance. Another of Dee's former prosthesis, used by Bill Joe Shaver as a stage prop, was immortalized in a documentary on the singer by Robert Duvall.
People looked over Dee’s writings, newspaper coverage of his Latino amputee outreach, and tributes that were emailed in, plus enjoyed photos of him from early childhood to his last few months.
The music, of course, was
incredible, starting mid-afternoon and going on past midnight. Guys
with guitars, including George McClan, left, and Billy Boyd, below,
sang songs and regaled folks with many, many, many tales of Dee,
wonderfully funny stuff.
Billy Joe Shaver wanted to come but was down with an ailment. Pauline Reese, above, laid everybody out, performing a tune she wrote for Dee called “When Tears No Longer Fall” that had everyone teary.
Mostly it was about the people. There was nothing Dee loved more than connecting folks, it's what he lived for. And that’s what the day was about, all Dee’s friends connecting with each other.
Dee touched many, many lives. His friends ranged from the young to Hill Country salts who’d been around a long time like white-whiskered Jimmy Lee Jones.
Dee’s sister Coni was there with her friend Michelle, left.
Becky Pope, Dee’s good buddy and
caretaker from Fort Worth, got tight with Taco, Dee’s friend in the
video business, and received comfort from a gal pal, below.
Rick “the barber,” who came all the way from Iowa, enjoyed a hug from Cynthia Bruce.
Bryan Dickson, who wandered up from Austin, did the same.
Rick reconnected with Doc, Dee’s good friend from Dallas, and two more FODs, Friends of Dee.
Smiling times continued with Rick, Poodie and more happily inebriated FODs.
More FODs were clustered around the bar inside, below.
Enough stories to fill a book were
told about our dear old friend, a few tears but lots of laughs and
plenty of country music, just as Dee would have liked it.
