The Scratch Sheet

I could do an hour on how I like to read obituaries.

I read the obits in three newspapers: SF, Honolulu and LA. I think of them as little biographies of folks you didn't get to meet. Occasionally they're of people you did meet, and as we get older they're of our parents, our friends and eventually us. About once a month I consider writing my own, just to get a start on it for whoever needs to do the deed eventually. Sometimes I think that when I retire I'd like to work on the notices desk at the local newspaper :)

I got the obit bug from Pop, who read them every morning. He called the obit page the scratch sheet, and said if he wasn't in it it was going to be a good day. When the time came to write his, I did the honors.

Thursday's scratch sheet had obits of two people I met: Big Al, and Roscoe Lee Browne. I saw them both in restaurants where I was working. Albert was the father of one of my kindergarten friends. Already ballsy, he swallowed the self-help bait in the 1970's and got even more so. He'd swan into the middle of Diet Restaurant where I hosted and would ask loudly where his table was, no matter how many other people were waiting. Forceful and charming, he really had my number :)

And Roscoe Lee Browne, bearer of the remarkable resonant voice for which he's famous, may have been the first celebrity I ever met. He was narrating poetry for a friend's show at the station upstairs from the diner, and the need for cigarettes brought them downstairs. My friend the poet made a point of introducing us, and Mr Browne kindly made small talk with me. It was a surreal moment. Just even hearing him say "Umm-hmmm" was inspiring.

Today's obits are free of connections to mrsguy.