Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/116300
THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET We Should All Be So Lucky by MARGARET DICKSON Barefoot Contessa and anything on the History Channel. I am not embarrassed to tell you that I read obituary notices. This, I He took extreme pride in his two grandchildren for whom he would crow think, is preferable to not being here to read them. Most are of the "just like a rooster on their phone calls. As a former government and sociology the facts, ma'am" variety — the dearly departed's name, his schools and professor, Harry was thoroughly interested in politics and religion and organizations, the names of those he leaves behind and the particulars of enjoyed watching politicians act like preachers and preachers act like his arrangements. Occasionally, though, an obit is so spectacular that readers come to know politicians. He also took pride in his service during the Korean conflict, serving the rank of corporal — just like Napoleon, as he would say. and maybe even love the deceased even though we never even knew he "Harry took fashion cues from no one. His signature everyday look was all existed. his: a plain-pocket T-shirt designed by the fashion house of Fruit of the Loom, Harry Stamps died March 9 in Mississippi, and the following obituary, edited his black label elastic waist shorts worn above the navel and sold exclusively at only slightly for length, was published in The Sun Herald of Biloxi-Gulfport. Not the Sam's on Highway 49 and a pair of old school Wallabees that were always only do I wish I had known Harry, I would love to know, not to mention write paired with a grass-stained as well as, whoever penned this MSU baseball cap. tribute to him. "Harry traveled extensively. "Harry Weathersby Stamps, He only stayed in the ladies' man, foodie, natty finest quality AAA-rated dresser and accomplished campgrounds, his favorite traveler, died Saturday. being outside Cherokee, N.C. "Harry was locally sourcing He always spent the extra his food years before chefs money to upgrade to a creek in California started using view for his tent. Many years cilantro and arugula (both later, he purchased a pop-up of which he hated). For his camper for his family to travel signature bacon and tomato in style, which spoiled his sandwich, he procured 100 daughters for life. percent all white Bunny "He despised phonies, his Bread from Georgia, Blue 1969 Volvo (which he also Plate mayonnaise from loved), know-it-all Yankees, New Orleans, Sauer's black Southerners who used the pepper form Virginia, home words 'veranda' and 'porte grown tomatoes from outside cochere" to put on airs, eating Oxford, and Tennessee's grape leaves, Law and Order, Benton bacon from his-baconcats and Martha Stewart. He of-the-month subscription. As Harry Stamps left his mark on those he loved, and in death, his reputation has made him legendary. particularly hated Day Light a point of pride, he purported Savings Time, which he referred to as The Devil's Time. It is not lost on his to remember every meal he had eaten in his 80 years of life. family that he died the very day that he would have had to spring his clock "The women in his life were numerous. He particularly fancied smart forward. This can only be viewed as his final protest. women. He loved his mom, who with the help of her sisters and cousins "Because of his irrational fear that his family would throw him a golfin New Orleans, reared Harry after his father's death when Harry was 12. themed funeral despite his hatred for the sport, his family will hold a He worshipped his older sister and her daughter. He married his main private, family-only service free of any type of theme. squeeze Ann Moore, a home-economics teacher, almost 50 years ago, with "Finally, the family asks that in honor of Harry that you write your whom he had two girls. He taught them to fish, to select a quality hammer, Congressman and ask for the repeal of Day Light Saving Time. Harry to love nature and to just be thankful. He took great pride in stocking wanted everyone to get back on the Lord's Time." their toolboxes. One of his regrets was not seeing his girl, Hillary Clinton, Three final comments regarding Harry. elected President. If you have an extra few minutes, just as memorable as Harry's obituary "He had a life-long love affair with deviled eggs, Lane cakes, boiled are the hundreds of comments people left about him on the Sun Herald's peanuts, Vienna (Vi-e-na) sausages on saltines, his homemade canned website. Most of these people did not know Harry either, but loved what fig preserves, pork chops, turnip greens and buttermilk served in martini his family said about him. glasses garnished with cornbread. I checked, and there are actually several bacon-of-the-month clubs. "He excelled in growing camellias, rebuilding houses after hurricanes, And, truth be told, I agree with Harry totally about Day Light rocking, eradicating mole crickets from his front yard, composting pine Savings Time. needles, living within his means, outsmarting squirrels, never losing a game of competitive sickness and reading any history book he could get MARGARET DICKSON, Conhis hands on. He loved to use his oversized 'old man' remote control, tributing Writer, COMMENTS? which thankfully survived Hurricane Katrina, to flip between watching The Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM MARCH 20-26, 2013 UCW 5