Pilgrimage to gravesite concludes sixth Freddy convention
by Kevin W. Parker
Thirteen animals went on the original trip to Florida, and thirteen Friends of Freddy
made the pilgrimage to Walter Brooks gravesite.
It was the Monday afternoon following the convention and, as previously arranged,
the faithful few remaining banded together and, led by Michael Cart, made their way
to Hamilton, NY, and the Woodlawn Cemetery. Michael had previously attempted to visit the
gravesite following a previous convention, but he went to the other Hamilton cemetery and had to leave
to catch his plane before he could visit the other one. So this would be a first
for all the Friends of Freddy.
Thanks to a helpful gas station proprieter, we found the cemetery in short order.
This still left us with the problem of finding the gravesite itself. To this end,
we split up and began searching. It wasn´t long before positive cries came from David
Maxine and Eric Shanower, and we all hurried in their direction.
The cemetery was on a hilly site, and the Brooks family gravestone was at the top
of one of the hills. It was one of the most remarkable stones any of us had ever
seen, carved in the shape of a tree trunk with an open book leaning against it at
the bottom. We were very excited upon seeing the book, though someone pointed out that this was
more likely a Bible than Freddy Goes to Florida.
This didn´t stop speculation in some quarters as to what it would take to etch To and
Again onto it. Near the stone, among other members of the Brooks family, were the
individual gravestones of Walter Brooks, his first wife Anne, and his second wife
Dorothy, whom many of us had met and whose death just before the previous convention had
cast a somber note onto an otherwise pleasant weekend, which some of us had concluded
by attending her funeral.
After a few minutes of milling around, Eric distributed flowers from the arrangement
that Sondra Gordon Langford had so generously supplied to the convention. He pointed
out the great enjoyment that Walter had brought each and every one of us, and suggested that we distribute the flowers among the individual markers as we saw fit, then
observe a moment of silence. We took turns placing the flowers on the stones, with
those of us who had met and befriended Dorothy including her in our remembrance.
Then we stood quietly for a minute or so. More than of the books, I thought of the friends I
was with and how much they meant to me, and that I had to thank the man we were now
honoring that we had come to know each other.
Michael finally broke the spell by saying, "I think I hear Walter saying `that´s quite
enough ceremony.´" We smiled at that and resumed our conversations.
All too soon after that, it was time for the thirteen to go their separate ways. Still,
it was a fitting end to the weekend, and we were all glad that we had taken the time
to make the pilgrimage.