A Eulogy to My Dying Uncle, A Legend.

[EWG]

I gotta tell you all, the responses in this thread and the texts that some have sent have been amazing. Thank you. A number of these replies have been pretty emotional for me - in a good way.

Back in something like 1970, when he lived in a commune in Portland, Maine with like 8 people, they all decided that they should buy a piece of land out in the sticks and build a home from scratch. So they buy a property for back taxes and move out "on the land" in middle-of-nowhere Maine, in tents, to build it by hand. In early spring. In tents. In Maine. Fucking cold. 5 leave almost immediately. Chardo, his girlfriend, and another dude are all that stay. The other dude is, shall we say, a bit eccentric. Sleeps with his chainsaw in his tent for protection. Gives you a sense of the state of mind. Regardless, they make it through the cold spring, build the damn thing, mostly out of supplies scavenged from all around Portland, and move in. It ends up being featured in Mother Earth News. They are stoked. The neighbors are less stoked (rural Maine in 1970, remember.) When he leaves to move to Colorado, the house "mysteriously" burns down within a year. Damn hippy freaks.

The message, as always - never stop freaking out the decent folk.

Thanks all. Your messages mean quite a bit.

[stizzmt]

Just wanted to chime in with another huzzah for you and your uncle. Thanks so much for sharing, and great writing. Cheers!

[Supermoon]

Rest well Chardo. Thanks for sharing EWG, a great story for a great life.

[jono]

Good stuff EWG. Hope the memories help, they're all great reads.

[Yonder_River]

Great eulogy, we all got one life to live and it sounds like he did it to the best he could.

[kokomas]

Sorry to hear this and that you are hurting man. Condolences

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[sb]

From the beginning to the end the middle is for you to make it your own.

[mcski]

Bump for a great tribute to an absolute legend

[chicken feathers]

EWG, I think you've posted about your Uncle skiing Berthoud Pass after his swing shifts at the mine before. It's one of those things I've read that will stick with me forever.
I'm probably going to start accusing people of "folding towels" because that's going to stick in my mind too.
Thanks for sharing.