I Stole this Line.....

.....from the Paul Harvey Radio Show......October 15, 2006........

"......Today, the Last Teardrop Fell....."

My Friend, Baldemar, Freddie Fender, passed away.

OK, I didn't really know Freddie all that well......but he had a lasting effect upon my life and I consider him a friend!

Back in the mid-1970s, 1974, maybe 1975, when I was married and had two toddlers, we went to Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, In Phoenix, to a Freddie Fender Concert. My wife of the time, Linda, my son, David & my daughter, Deidre. It was, to this old country boy, a spectacular event! My daughter, Didi, tagged Freddie as "Freddie Finger", at the young age of 2 or 3, I just don't recall, and that name has stuck, within my Family for these 30 some years! His show was, simply, Fine!

I never saw him agin but I was a fan for many years....

Then, in the late 1990s, maybe '97, maybe '98, I was working "on the road" in Yuma, Arizona, staying at some Motel on the highway......I, as was my habit, hit the Coffee Shop at 5 AM and took a booth, assumed reading my Newspaper.

Now, early morning Coffe Shop denizens have their own traditional Code of Conduct and I, in line with the Code, looked around and saw Freddie in the booth directly across from mine. I was impressed! He was lean and lanky! Not at all like the chubby feller from my youth!

I gave him the obligatory nod, said some damned fool thang like "...mornin' How's it goin'?" and soon fell into a conversation with Freddie Fender. He was not at the height of his up-and-down Fame at the time and was doing a local show in Yuma. I related to him how he obtained the title "Freddie Finger" and we both had a nice little chuckle over it. Then one of us had to leave, then the other....the moment was over.

Befor Freddie died he had given up hope as to human medicine and was "waiting for a miracle...."! Well, folks, Freddie WAS the Miracle, not the Only One but definitely a Work Of God! He will be sorely missed!