In Memoriam
My highly unique and last surviving uncle passed away yesterday, July 18, 2024. Charles ("Charlie" to many) was six months shy of his 102nd birthday in December. For his 100th birthday in 2022, I wrote him a poem. The photos below comprised the front and back of a card designed by JT, for which I recorded a 90-second .mp3 of me reciting the printed verse, uploading it to a tiny disk attached inside the card. The photos above are Charles with his Gretsch "New Yorker" in 1956, and then with the "Kat330" cigar box guitar JT made for my birthday in 2015.
The background music behind my recitation is from a lovely day in 2011 spent with my uncle on the grounds of the restored West Baden Springs Hotel resort in southern Indiana. We stumbled upon a stone domed "chapel" (probably an empty gardening shed) with phenomenal acoustics. Instinctively I began singing "Amazing Grace," and then I began the round "O, How Lovely Is the Evening" after Charles had joined in humming harmony on the hymn. When we were back home that day, I found out JT had surreptitiously recorded our private moment of joy in song, and that "Amazing Grace" recording was ideal to set behind this tribute poem.
Hymn to Him
Back in nineteen twenty and two Upon the 13th day December, There was born a blessèd man This day we honor and remember.
Born as Charles Henry Boonshot, Sometimes shortened to Charlie B., His name passed down by dad, the Sr. His mother's known as Anna Marie.
A farmboy raised in Indiana, And I might also make a note he Always lived in Martin County Near or in the town, Loogootee.
His sister and my mother, Margaret, His elder 18 months and plus, Did dearly love her baby brother Who is, as well, beloved by us!
He thrived upon the family farm Amid the usual barnyard cluster -- Chickens, pigs, a horse, a cow -- And trusty dog by name of Buster.
The Boonshot family loved to sing With Charlie's purest tenor tone Lifting high their gospel hymns In lovely harmonies home-grown.
He let his singing speak for him, Remained a quiet, gentle man, But never were his words more clear Than when he had guitar in hand.
And now my unc of so few words Arriving at a major milestone, Hears us praise in many words: The light a 100 years he's shone!
--Kathleen Martin, November 2022
