Rest In Peace Scrapper

This morning I woke up to news of the death of an old college friend, Scrapper Willoughby. I can't describe what it is like to learn about the death of someone you knew well from another country. It feels unreal from here. I am sad for his mom and dad especially. I can't imagine losing a son or daughter, despite the fact that I am not a parent. Anyhow, for those of you who did not know Scrapper, he was one of the wilder people I knew in my life- liked to party, drove a big old Harley Davidson, was well-tattooed, and generally could have taken better care of himself. One day he came to Berea when I lived there alone and was really pretty lonely. He took me on an incredible motorcycle ride on his Harley up in the mountains south of Berea. I just remember the beautiful views and the loud roar of the engine. At one point when I was living in Lexington I remember he told me that he wanted to start exercising more, so I said I would come out to Winchester and walk with him a couple of times to get him into the motions. I don't think my motivational attempt took. Anyway, I had the good fortune to see him right before I left for Costa Rica at a holiday party. He had recently returned from a trip to New Zealand and had many wild stories to tell. Scrapper's politics drove me nuts. We disagreed a lot about what language was appropriate and inappropriate, among other things. But, I guess because he was so different from most anyone I knew at Centre, he always helped me identify who I was, because I was constantly asking myself, wait a minute do I agree with this dude? And often, the answer would be- no absolutely not! But the great thing about having a friend like Scrapper was that it did not really matter if you agreed or not. He would still call me sweetie, or darling, or some other term of endearment to make me recognize that although we were very different kinds of folks there was a kernel of sameness in us. I think he made a lot of people feel like that. That's it. Rest in Peace Scrapper Willoughby, you crazy redneck you.