James Delaney Buffett, Jr.
PirateJohn
away yesterday, 5/1/2003. Mr. Buffett had been suffering from Alzheimers for
several years.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to:
Mercy Medical Hospice Development Office
P.O. Box 1090
Daphne, AL 36526
or
The James Delaney Buffett, Jr. Scholarship Fund,
c/o Maine Maritime Academy
Castine, ME 04420
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
Terrymelin
>away yesterday,
>The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to:
If he only "reportedly" passed away and didn't "actually" pass away how can
donations be made?
Terry Ellsworth
The Kentucky Wizard
consultations with my Joint Chiefs of Staff, being briefed by members of my
Cabinet and telephone conversations with various world leaders, I have come
to the following conclusions:
> James Delaney Buffett, Jr., father of singer Jimmy Buffett, reportedly
passed
> away yesterday, 5/1/2003. Mr. Buffett had been suffering from Alzheimers
for
> several years.
>
> The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to:
>
> Mercy Medical Hospice Development Office
> P.O. Box 1090
> Daphne, AL 36526
>
> or
>
> The James Delaney Buffett, Jr. Scholarship Fund,
> c/o Maine Maritime Academy
> Castine, ME 04420
Sad to hear the news. I assume he just "wasted away".
--
Š The Wiz Ž
**********
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay
any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,
support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the
success of liberty" - John F. Kennedy -
PirateJohn
'Old Sailor' J.D. Buffett laid to rest
05/06/03
By ROY HOFFMAN
Staff Reporter
FAIRHOPE -- On a tropical morning any sailor would relish, a funeral Mass was
said Monday for James Delaney "J.D." Buffett Jr., who spent much of his 83
years close to the water and became widely known, among other accomplishments,
as the father of singer Jimmy Buffett.
As mourners filed into the airy sanctuary of St. Lawrence Catholic Church, they
were offered two cards printed with photographs of the one-time sailor and
shipyard worker, with quotations from famous authors on the reverse sides.
"Depart upon thy endless cruise old Sailor," said Walt Whitman's "Leaves of
Grass" on one card. Ernest Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea," assured on the
other, "No man was ever alone on the sea."
Following Buffett's white-draped casket as it was rolled up the aisle were his
family members: Mary Loraine "Peets" Buffet, his wife of 61 years, in a
wheelchair and wearing a black hat with a thin yellow ribbon; their two
daughters, Loraine "Laurie" Marie Buffett McGuane, who raises horses in
Montana, and Lucy Anne Buffett, who runs LuLu's Sunset Grill at Fish River; and
son Jimmy, formally known as James William Buffett.
Jimmy, whose "Son of a Son of a Sailor," "Margaritaville," and other laid-back,
rollicking pop songs are enjoyed by legions of fans who embrace his casual
lifestyle, was somber in coat and tie.
"My parents were hard-working," Jimmy Buffett told the Register in an interview
last March. "I think that's one of the assets as to how I was able to navigate
my way through the music business. I learned a great work ethic, but at the
same time I thought life is fun."
Monday's ceremony, with the Rev. Fergus Prendergast presiding, celebrated the
life of the Pascagoula native who worked and lived around waterfronts much of
his life, and imparted strong values -- and much joy -- to his accomplished and
sprawling family.
Jimmy, Laurie and Lucy were silent grievers, along with their children -- nine
grandchildren and three great-grandchildren in all to Peets and J.D. But there
were hugs, and some smiles, as stories were told about the loved one they had
come to bury, and honor.
It was novelist Thomas McGuane, Laurie's husband, who presented the eulogy. The
author of "Ninety-two in the Shade," "The Bushwacked Piano," and other novels
was, above all Monday, J.D. Buffett's son-in-law, trying to make his way
through a tribute without "blubbering," as he put it.
After thanking the caretakers who helped nurse Buffett through his long
illness, McGuane reflected how Alzheimer's disease cruelly robbed the family of
the man they had come to know and love. With their memory of an earlier J.D.
restored by death, McGuane said, they would recall, once again, the J.D. who
had been a "complex, family-loving, vibrant man."
In saying how "each of us has a J.D.," he spoke of his own -- a man who loved
to walk the Mobile Bay surf with his dog Moon, visit with family members on his
and Peets' Point Clear wharf, check his crab traps with greater urgency than a
man, he joked, rushing to an ATM machine for cash.
He told of J.D.'s enthusiasm for jubilees, and how, to McGuane, his
father-in-law's musings on this Mobile Bay phenomenon of flounder and crabs
streaming to shore made it seem as if the event originated in "the spirit
world."
And McGuane spoke of J.D. Buffett's commitment to family, and how the
generations continued. "The beat goes on," he said.
When he praised Peets, and all she had given to her husband and the rest of the
family, the more than 100 mourners broke into applause.
McGuane said his wife Laurie had always felt that she would receive a "sign"
before her father's passing, but none had appeared. As she was telling him
about this, McGuane said, their telephone began to ring. It was a call from her
horse barn.
"A foal had been born," he said. "But she couldn't call it J.D. It was a
filly."
The mourners, through their tears, had a final, gentle laugh.