24-01-2010, 07:13 AM
Charles Drago Wrote:Well, Jack, all I can recount are my memories -- which may indeed be faulty not so much because of the intervening years but rather due to the inadequacies attendant to my rookie status back in the ASK era and the misconspetions it may have encouraged.
I recall a bus tour -- it was the first ASK year, perhaps 1991 -- led by Howard. He was wearing a gray, 70s style patterned sport jacket. His hair was thin, as was his voice, and his complexion was a sickly gray. The following year I saw him wearing the same outfit, and his pallor was even less robust. It was then that I recall learning that he was very ill with cancer.
I'll defer to your firmer and more intimate recollections. In any event, it is the timing and context of his demise that are of interest vis a vis this thread.
When one considers the Ferrell/Shaw/White vanguard in comparison to what followed from Texas, one readily appreciates the purpose and ultimate success of the row cleaning.
Of course I understand that you're carrying on. Yet consider: How decimated the ranks of your detractors would be if Mary and Messrs. Shaw, Harris, and Howard were at your side.
This is small consolation indeed, but I stand with you.
Charles
I will ask Gary Shaw sometime to refresh my memory. Larry always
looked sickly like you describe him...but I do not think it was health
induced.
Larry Howard had a very raspy voice...sort of like mine right
now. I have a badly damaged vocal chord. I am having surgery on
it next Friday.
Jack
PS. I have always considered the deaths of Howard, Harris and
Fensterwald suspicious. I had not considered that I might have
been part of the same pattern.