Remembering Rick Watson

Rick and his wife, Jilda at his book table

I was deeply saddened to learn yesterday of Rick Watson's passing. I met Rick many summers back at the Alabama Writers Cooperative. Since we were both bloggers, and he hailed from Dora, Alabama, near my wife's hometown, we became friends and blogger colleagues. 

He had worked for years at Bell South but began his writing career as a  young man after a two-year stint with the Army. He wrote in one of his columns about how his friend Dale Short hired him as a journalist and photographer for The Community News in Sumiton, Ala. In 2007, Rick began writing columns for the Daily Mountain Eagle where he had a weekly column (you can read the paper's tribute to him here). He interviewed many local people and as such served as a compiler of the community's own local history. 

In his columns and in his books, Rick shared many homespun stories of life as he observed it. He loved fly fishing and offered to teach me the art. He told me he had some extra waders and I could join him anytime on the river.

Rick was also a musician and songwriter. He and his wife Jilda performed together at many local gatherings. He loved people, he loved life, he loved to be out in nature. Not only did he welcome you into his world, but he also had an extra pair of waders so you didn’t have to stand on the sidelines. That's just how he was.

Rick blogged at Life 101 where he made an entry every day, his last one just a few hours before he died. Prayers for his wife, Jilda. May he rest in peace. 

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Rick was an excellent photographer with an eye for nature. Here are two of his photos he posted on his blog just last week:

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In Remembrance of Father Maurice Branscomb

The Rev. Maurice Branscomb Jr. celebrates the Eucharist on Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007, at Immanuel Episcopal Church 

in Bay Minette. (AL.com/File)

Tomorrow (Saturday, January 20), The Reverend Maurice Branscomb, Jr. is to be laid to rest in an inurnment service at Grace Episcopal Church in Woodlawn, Alabama, the last church he served before retiring in 1997. There was a nice article at AL.com celebrating his life and ministry which can be read here.

When Father Branscomb retired, he was honored at Grace Church, at which time I handed him a poem I wrote in his honor. I have altered it only slightly to make it a fitting word in memorium :

In Remembrance of Father Branscomb

All good graces,

And light eternal

To the one who has shown great compassion

     in all things.

Your boundless energy

With your endless capacity for caring

     has been a blessing from God.

Many have seen how your compassion

     made the liturgy come alive,

     brought sustenance to the needy,

     created a space for those who would rest

         and a ministry for those who would serve.

A true priest,

     a wellspring of joy

        and a midwife to the soul –

To name but a few traits

Of a servant with no regrets,

Whose magnanimity

Welcomed so many

     (and such a variety)

To the Lord’s Table.

Rest in Peace, Father Maurice Branscomb

~ Charles Kinnaird

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