Healthwatch: Jimmy Buffett's mom
PirateJohn
to be with his mother. Reportedly she is on life support. No other details
available.
His dad passed away several months ago after a decade's struggle with
Alzheimers.
The same day that his fans heard about his Mom, there was an email going around
from the Parrothead club in Kill Devil Hills, NC requesting disaster aid
following Hurricane Isabel. In the letter they commented that Jimmy had
chartered a plane, loaded it with supplies, and that the plane had arrived the
previous day. JB has had long standing ties to the Outer Banks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pirat...@aol.com
Keeper of the Humour List at http://members.aol.com/PirateJohn/pirate1.html
"Mother, mother ocean... I have heard your call" - Jimmy Buffett, A Pirate
Looks At Forty.
Hyfler/Rosner
"PirateJohn" <pirat...@aol.comNOSPAM> wrote in message
news:20030926112937...@mb-m25.aol.com...
> JB suddenly cancelled his last two West Coast shows yesterday to fly to
Alabama
> to be with his mother. Reportedly she is on life support. No other
details
> available.
>
"Peets" Buffett, singer's mother, dead at 82
DATELINE: FAIRHOPE, Ala.
Mary Loraine "Peets" Buffett, the mother of singer Jimmy Buffett, died
Thursday. She was 82.
Buffett, who introduced music to her famous son and his sisters at an early
age, was surrounded by her family when she passed away at Thomas Hospital in
Fairhope, said her granddaughter, Melanie Buffett.
"My mother certainly was the influence on the artistic things," Jimmy
Buffett, an Alabama native who now lives in Palm Beach, Fla., told the
Mobile Register in an April 2002 interview.
"We came on one side from a seafaring family," Jimmy Buffett said. "My
grandfather, in his travels, certainly was an influence on all of us, it was
one window to the world. My mother offered another window to the world in
that she encouraged us to read and to explore the arts."
Known simply as "Peets," Mrs. Buffett was born in Crystal Springs, Miss.,
and married the late James Delaney "J.D." Buffett 62 years ago. While
raising their three children in west Mobile, the Buffetts worked on the
Mobile waterfront - J.D. as an estimator, Peets as an administrator.
"My first impression was how loving she was," a friend, Suzanne Cleveland of
Mobile, recalled. "Peets was very smart, but never arrogant. She was able to
work effectively in a man's world."
When J.D. Buffett died May 1, it was Peets, pushed in a wheelchair, who led
the procession of mourners behind his casket.
"They were a swan couple," Melanie Buffett said. "Swans mate for life. When
one dies the other soon follows."
Besides her son, Buffett is survived by daughters Loraine Marie Buffett
McGuane of McLeod, Mont., and Lucy Anne Buffett of Point Clear, nine
grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were set for 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Lawrence Catholic
Church in Fairhope.
PirateJohn
Mobile (Ala) Register
Saturday, 27 Sept. 2003
By ROY HOFFMAN
Staff Reporter
Mary Loraine Peets Buffett, a shipyard administrator who became the
book-loving matriarch of a talented family, including the singer Jimmy
Buffett, died on Thursday at Thomas Hospital in Fairhope.
Buffett, who was 82, was surrounded by her family at the time,
according to her granddaughter, Melanie Buffett.
Born Mary Loraine Peets in Crystal Springs, Miss., the woman who was
known simply as "Peets," married James Delaney "J.D." Buffett 62 years
ago. While raising their three children in west Mobile, the Buffetts
were employed on the Mobile waterfront, J.D. as an estimator, Peets as
an administrator, at Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co. (ADDSCO).
After attending Gulf Park College in Biloxi, Miss., according to her
close friend, Suzanne Cleveland of Mobile, Peets Buffett started as a
secretary at ADDSCO and worked her way up to become assistant director
of industrial relations. "That's distinctive for anyone, especially a
woman," said Cleveland, who was trained by Buffett for a position in
that office.
"My first impression was how loving she was," Cleveland recalled.
"Peets was very smart, but never arrogant. She was able to work
effectively in a man's world."
Cleveland, a generation younger than Buffett, eventually looked to
Peets as a confidante, she said. "You could talk to her about anything
very comfortably. She never passed judgment."
During their last years, J.D. and Peets Buffett lived in Baldwin
County's Eastern Shore area.
Melanie Buffett, who helped care for her Buffett grandparents, said of
Peets: "She made me a better person, a better listener. She gave me an
insight into what it's like to be in that generation." She described
her grandmother as "my best friend."
Melanie, who works as a yoga instructor in Fairhope, added of her
grandmother: "She was the glue to our most amazing family. We've all
lived so far apart, and she's been Grand Central."
When J.D. Buffett died last May, it was Peets, pushed in a wheelchair,
who led the procession of mourners behind the white-draped casket of
her late husband. "They were a swan couple," said Melanie. "Swans mate
for life. When one dies the other soon follows."
Peets retired from ADDSCO in 1979, exchanging her office books for
school books. According to her family, she graduated from the
University of South Alabama -- cum laude -- at age 64.
Jimmy Buffett attributes much of his own, early awareness of the arts
to Peets. In April, 2002, he told the Register:
"My mother certainly was the influence on the artistic things. My dad
was a shipyard guy. My mother wanted us to see beyond the boundaries of
Spring Hill. We came on one side from a seafaring family. My
grandfather, in his travels, certainly was an influence on all of us,
it was one window to the world. My mother offered another window to the
world in that she encouraged us to read and to explore the arts."
Daughter Lucy "Lulu" Buffett, who runs the Baldwin County seafood
restaurant, "Lulu's Sunset Grill," also spoke of her mother's love for
the arts. In a 2002 Register profile, "Lulu's Back in Town," Lucy
Buffett recalled a childhood household where music poured from her
mother's record player. "She loved Rodgers and Hammerstein," Lucy said
of Peets, noting the scores "South Pacific," "Hello Dolly," and "The
King and I."
Peets Buffett is survived by her son James William Buffett of Palm
Beach, Fla.; daughters Loraine Marie Buffett McGuane of McLeod, Mont.,
and Lucy Anne Buffett of Point Clear; nine grandchildren, and four
great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Tuesday at Fairhope Funeral
Home, 19698 Greeno Road, Fairhope, followed by a Mass of Christian
Burial at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Fairhope at 10 a.m.
In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to Mercy
Medical Hospice Development Office, P.O. Box 1090, Daphne, Ala., 36526;
or to the Mary Loraine Peets Buffett Scholarship at the University of
Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Campus, 730 East Beach Blvd., Long
Beach, Miss., 39560.