Family Reserve
Family Reserve
by Lyle Lovett
When I saw the ambulance
Screaming down Main Street
I didn’t give it a thought
But it was my Uncle Eugene
He died on October the second 1981
This is the family stone for my Mom’s people, the Douglases. It was this side of my family that I was closest to most of my life. They’re all buried in North Elba cemetary in Lake Placid, NY.
This is my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother. I didn’t know them at all, but they were great. Mose was really sweet to my Grandmother and the girls after my Grandfather died.
And my Uncle Wilbert
They all called him Skinner
They said for his younger ways
He’d get drunk in the morning
And show me the rolls of fifties and hundreds
He kept in the glove box of his old gray Impala
This is my grandfather, Roland Douglas. He was killed in World War II when my mom was 6. He was a barber. Everyone said my brother Roland and I look a LOT like him.
This is my Grandpa Joe… the only grandfather I knew on either side of the family. He died back in the 80′s, and as my memories of him fade he starts to look more and more like Grandpa Joe in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
This is my grandmother, Elizabeth Douglas Marconi. She was great. I’d go over to mow her lawn or do some other work and she’d make me spaghetti and give me two dollars.
Now there was great Uncle Julius
And Aunt Annie Mueller
And Mary and Granddaddy Paul
And there was Hanna and Ella
And Alvin and Alec
He owned his own funeral hall
This is where my godfather, Uncle Joey Marconi is buried. Joey had a screw loose. He went AWOL and disappeared for about six years. When he finally resurfaced he tried a lot of different jobs but couldn’t hold one down, and died poor. Everyone says we’ll get a stone for him eventually.
And there are more I remember
And more I could mention
Than words I could write in a song
But I feel them watching
And I see them laughing
And I hear them singing along
This is the view from the cemetary in Lake Placid where the family reserve is buried, and where my father eventually wants to be buried. She always loved great views.
We’re all gonna be here forever
So Mama don’t you make such a stir
Just put down that camera
And come on and join up
The last of the family reserve
Goodbye Mom…. I love you.
Filed under: General Observations on July 20th, 2007
Very nice memorial for your family. My great-grandmother was named Maude, too. I considered naming our child after her if we had a girl, but my husband said it was too old-fashioned; I thought it was kind of sophisticated. I share a birth date with you mother: November 21st. And, I share your sense of loss.
Awww. I love it what a fitting tribute, especially because Gram was trying so hard to get that family tree done for all of us. She really loved family and telling people about her roots.
That was really sweet, Uncle Rob. The song was so fitting.