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| Buzzy and Lou Gentry |
Post 9/11 Buzzy and I had a scheduled trip cancel on us. He always tried to arrange his trips such that he was travelling somewhere on his October 11th birthday and thus would not have to buy a round at the Store.
I forget just where we were scheduled to go but as a substitution of sorts we decided to fly out to El Paso and visit his former tenant and longtime friend Lou Gentry. I have mentioned Lou many times previously here on the Buzzyblog including this most recent one about his passing in November 2017 (click here.)
Well, we flew out to El Paso around the first of November and had a great time visiting and catching up with Lou and his wife Lupe. While there in El Paso I purchased an El Paso hat which ultimately for some reason, I kept out in my work shop to use it as my go-to hat whenever I was doing yard work, painting, pruning and all the other things you do outside. Here is a photo of the hat and you can see the wear and tear on it. Please note that that is paint and not bird poop on the bill:
Somewhere along the line the plastic, size adjusters in the back of the hat broke. I did the Ridge boy fix by slapping a wrap or two of duct tape around to secure them.
That worked for the most part until the other day when I had to re-wrap it and Pam was outside with me as I tinkered with my duct taping. She suggested that I toss the hat and get another one.
I started to explain the hat’s background and history to her but let it ride knowing she wouldn’t really understand. I left it at “It’s a long story.” (That’s a little inside joke there because those of you who knew Lou know that he was the master of telling very long stories and jokes. Don’t get me wrong they were always entertaining jokes and stories, but man were they long.)
But per Pam’s suggestion I have decided to take Lou out of my work-around-the-house routine and retire him to Buzzy’s Country Store. When we were visiting Lou, Buzzy also purchased an El Paso hat so I’ll pair them up.
However, since I just took the Lou hat to the Store yesterday, I decided to employ him on one last work project: helping JW to re-do the Buzzy bar. I thought this was an appropriate undertaking because it was Johnny’s Dad Bill Raley who first introduced Lou to Buzzy.
When Lou moved into the area he rented an apartment from Bill and they became friends. Later Lou would move down to rent an apartment from Buzzy. Eventually he and JW rented a place as roommates for a couple of years.
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| Lou’s Last Project – Photo by Jennifer Odell |
Following the bar top job, the Lou hat will be officially retired in the Store. Somewhere, I hope Lou and Buzzy are knocking one back in memory of their friendship hats living on even if they are not here with us.
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| On Store Wall Behind the Candy Case |
Here is a Phil Collins “hat” song that didn’t get much play but should have. Video has a little bit of everything in it including Danny Devito at the 2:40 mark.