Farmers Back Pete Fountain...

When some one passes away there is all the stuff of their life left. The people they leave behind have to go through it.  After my father in law, Bill Cooney went to his eternal rest there was a box full of caps and hats of various kinds and I picked this one out because it reminded me of something that happened when he was wearing it or maybe one like it since the incident was about 20 to 25 years ago and that would be a pretty old cap. I've written about the incident on these pages before but in light of this day and time it's a story I'll tell again. 

I'm guessing it was mid/late 90s, heck maybe even early 200os because the kids were pretty young and we took them as well as Bill and Geneva to New Orleans for St. Patrick's Day. It's just like Mardi Gras with all the parades, just more local people, more Irish people and then a couple of days after St. Patrick's Day you have the Italians and St. Joseph's Day and it's feasting and parades all over again. We were on our way out of town and stopped in the Metrie/Kenner area to catch a parade and while we stood waiting for the floats to roll down the street on foot came David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Klan, conviced felon, presidental candidate, Holocaust Denier and recently endorser of Donald Trump's 2016 Presidental Campaign. To Trump's credit he declined Duke's support but the question lingers what did Duke see in Trump?

Without going into all that this day in New Orleans Duke had an entourage that included photographers. I recognized him as he came down the street, handing out campaign materials and shaking hands and as the kids were young and excited about all the throws from the parades I immediatly told them do not take anything from that man or his people. 

Bill stood there looking, with that John Deere hat, that hat in the photo and the overalls he always wore. Duke made a beeline for Bill and with the photographers snapping grabbed his hand and gave it the old campaign shake. Good thing Bill was not a baby because then Duke would have kissed him. Bill, a life long Democrat, avocate for equal rights and someone who led every blessing at meal times with the petition that those with less might have a better day looked sick. Of course it's an old family tradition with the Cooneys of anything for a laugh so we told Bill with the overalls and hat the next day his photo would be in the paper with the headline "Farmers Back Duke." 

Later in the parade things stalled out and Pete Fountain, the famous Dixieland clarinet player and his band stopped right in front of us and played about a 20 minute set. It made Bill, a tenor banjo player and huge Dixieland fan feel better. 

Years later Bill and I sat in the Economy Hall Tent at Jazz Fest and saw Pete again. As far as I know Duke was not there that day. The year before he had been arrested in the Czech Republic on charges of "denying or approving Nazi genocide and other crimes." They released him from custody and told him to be out of the country by midnight that day. We stayed and watched the whole set by Pete Fountain and no one asked us to leave. Best I remember Pop had on the John Deere hat and overalls. Farmers back Pete Fountain. I know that for sure.  

I have been wearing the John Deere hat while I mow the yard on my John Deere. It's a bit soiled and sweat stained. I think I'll wash it and wear something else while I mow. I'm all about changing things.