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We all know and see people like him every day.........
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<blockquote data-quote="dannyboy" data-source="post: 819401" data-attributes="member: 484"><p><span style="color: gray"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'">[ATTACH]5099[/ATTACH]<a href="http://www2.tricities.com/staff/41568/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2a4263">[ATTACH]5100[/ATTACH]</span></a></span></span></p><p><span style="color: gray"></span> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">A few decades ago, </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/louis-perna-ii/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Louis Perna II</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> wanted see the country and figured the best way to behold it would be by foot. For a year he saved his money; then he and his dogs walked away from home in Pennsylvania. They traveled from coast to coast twice, hiked the Appalachian Trail.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Over the years, </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/louis-perna-ii/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Perna</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> – or </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> as most people knew </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">him</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> – became a barefoot institution on the roads in the businesses around Exit 5. He had a scraggly gray beard, clothes safety pinned together and was, in every conventional sense, homeless – though his many friends said he had all the home he wanted. In the mornings, he would leave his shack in an overgrown field between two streams and walk wherever he wanted to go. Usually he had two dogs with </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">him</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">, lately just one – a German Shepherd called LuLu.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">“He chose the life he wanted to live,” said </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Goad</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">, who runs a </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/company/tags/state-farm/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">State Farm</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> insurance business near Lu’s shack. “He was unburdened, dependant only on himself. He wasn’t concerned with what you thought he looked like or didn’t look like. He was just a man who wanted to live by himself – out in the open.”</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><strong>At first, maybe 20 years ago, he stayed in Bristol for the summers and went south for the winters. But one of his dogs got sick and he didn’t have quite enough to pay the vet bill. He wouldn’t leave a debt behind, so he stayed and worked to repay it. Come spring, he decided the winter wasn’t too bad and the people were nice, and he made Bristol his full-time home.</strong></span></span></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">He never begged. He never met a stranger, said Sherry Taylor, </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/position/tags/cashier/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">a cashier</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> at the </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/company/tags/exxon/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Exxon</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> station on </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/facility/tags/lee-highway/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lee Highway</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">. He knew everybody’s name and came by to tell stories and make funny faces. Taylor’s favorite was his pirate impersonation.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Over the years, he so endeared himself to the people who lived and worked nearby that he was constantly fending off offers of shoes (he had some, just didn’t like to wear them), </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/industryterm/tags/food/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">food</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> (he ate only beans and only once a day) and indoor places to sleep on cold nights (he was tough and he liked it better outside)</span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><strong>“I’d have given that man a key to my house and relax knowing he’d leave it better off than when he came,” said Bristol Virginia Police Lt. Sean Carrigan.</strong></span></span></p><p> </p><p><strong><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> grew up in Hazleton, Pa., near Three Mile Island, and he never quite lost his Yankee accent, his friends say. Years after the nuclear meltdown there, both of his parents died young of pancreatic cancer. Then his sister died, too, and he had no family left.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">He was </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/position/tags/k9-officer/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">a K9 officer</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> in the </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/organization/tags/air-force/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Air Force</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> during Vietnam, but he never told his friends much about the war. He was a private person, they said. He wanted to talk about their families or his dogs or the books he was reading – from War and Peace and </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/mark-twain/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Mark Twain</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> to the romance novels he gave to </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/position/tags/gas-station-cashier/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">a gas station cashier</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> once he’d finished them.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">On the narrow trail to Lu’s shack, his dogs’ graves lay off to the side adorned with flower pots and a statue of St. </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/movie/tags/francis-of-assisi/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Francis of Assisi</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">, the patron saint of animals. </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> would sit in a folding chair across the path and remember them, his friends said. He once told </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Goad</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> that “dogs don’t think;” they are loyal and loving and not because of what you look like or where you live.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">“They were his best friends,” said Rhonda Harley, who works at Black Wolf Harley Davidson. “He was never worried about </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">, he was always worried about those animals. Even in the end.”</span></span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Just over two years ago, </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> learned he had </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/medicalcondition/tags/prostate-cancer/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">prostate cancer</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> that had metastasized to his bone, likely caused by Agent Orange exposure in the Vietnam War. He spent a week in the intensive care at the VA</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">. Doctors told </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">him</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> that nothing could be done – he had two years to live.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">He got a prescription for painkillers and went home to his shack, where he continued a long-standing competition with a beaver over a spring that ran past his dog memorial park. The beaver would build a dam, </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> would tear it down and the beaver would build it up again. Rain made Lu’s bones hurt, but during one storm, the stream flooded and </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> watched the dam, and the beaver, float away. He told his friend, </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Goad</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">, that he “had the last laugh.”</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The pain got to be too bad to walk like he was used to. He had just one dog, LuLu, left and he worried what would become of her.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">A year ago, after decades of only walking, he went to Crabtree Buick GMC, where </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/jim-clifton/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Jim Clifton</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">, his friend of 20 years, is the sales manager. He said he’d gotten his driver’s license, wanted a truck and liked a little red one sitting on the lot.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">It cost just over $20,000 and he paid in cash. He had just a few thousand dollars left in his </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/industryterm/tags/bank-account/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">bank account</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">, </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/jim-clifton/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Clifton</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> said. He was not an eccentric millionaire, as rumor had it.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> drove the truck, with LuLu at his side, to and from his monthly appointments at the VA. He was independent and contrary, </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/jim-clifton/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Clifton</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> said, and didn’t want to bother anyone with his illness.</span></span></strong></p><p><strong><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> was in excruciating pain, but he never complained, his friends said. They could see it in his eyes, his walk.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><strong>On his 62nd birthday, he signed a Do Not Resuscitate Order, pre-paid his cremation then gave his book collection to Highlands Juvenile Detention Center. A woman who works at the Harley Davidson store promised to take LuLu to her farm</strong></span></span><strong><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Last Tuesday, he met with </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Goad</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> and said the pain was unbearable. He could barely walk, barely stand up. He gave </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">him</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> all the papers he would need – the funeral arrangements and the Do Not Resuscitate Order.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">“He did things his way,” </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Goad</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> said. They next day, </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> was taken to the hospital and he held on until Monday morning. He had dozens of visitors.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">“Some people always said, ‘poor </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">,’ ” said Lt. Carrigan. “But maybe he’s the one who had it figured out. He lived at peace with the world. He didn’t cause problems; he didn’t have problems. And I’m glad to have known him.”</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Goad</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> found a composition book in Lu’s things. </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> was left-handed so he’d started at the back of the book and wrote forward.</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">“How have we come to the assumption that you have to be housed, propertied and well dressed in the modern world?” </span></span><a href="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Lu</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> wrote. “True manliness is non-conformity.”</span></span></strong></p><p> </p><p>d</p><p>[ATTACH=full]5099[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]5100[/ATTACH]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="dannyboy, post: 819401, member: 484"] [COLOR=gray][FONT=Arial][ATTACH]5099.vB[/ATTACH][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/staff/41568/"][COLOR=#2a4263][ATTACH]5100.vB[/ATTACH][/COLOR][/URL][/FONT] [/COLOR][B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]A few decades ago, [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/louis-perna-ii/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Louis Perna II[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman] wanted see the country and figured the best way to behold it would be by foot. For a year he saved his money; then he and his dogs walked away from home in Pennsylvania. They traveled from coast to coast twice, hiked the Appalachian Trail.[/FONT][/SIZE][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Over the years, [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/louis-perna-ii/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Perna[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] – or [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] as most people knew [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]him[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] – became a barefoot institution on the roads in the businesses around Exit 5. He had a scraggly gray beard, clothes safety pinned together and was, in every conventional sense, homeless – though his many friends said he had all the home he wanted. In the mornings, he would leave his shack in an overgrown field between two streams and walk wherever he wanted to go. Usually he had two dogs with [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]him[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3], lately just one – a German Shepherd called LuLu.[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“He chose the life he wanted to live,” said [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Goad[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3], who runs a [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/company/tags/state-farm/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]State Farm[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] insurance business near Lu’s shack. “He was unburdened, dependant only on himself. He wasn’t concerned with what you thought he looked like or didn’t look like. He was just a man who wanted to live by himself – out in the open.”[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][B]At first, maybe 20 years ago, he stayed in Bristol for the summers and went south for the winters. But one of his dogs got sick and he didn’t have quite enough to pay the vet bill. He wouldn’t leave a debt behind, so he stayed and worked to repay it. Come spring, he decided the winter wasn’t too bad and the people were nice, and he made Bristol his full-time home.[/B][/FONT][/SIZE] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]He never begged. He never met a stranger, said Sherry Taylor, [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/position/tags/cashier/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]a cashier[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] at the [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/company/tags/exxon/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Exxon[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] station on [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/facility/tags/lee-highway/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lee Highway[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]. He knew everybody’s name and came by to tell stories and make funny faces. Taylor’s favorite was his pirate impersonation.[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Over the years, he so endeared himself to the people who lived and worked nearby that he was constantly fending off offers of shoes (he had some, just didn’t like to wear them), [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/industryterm/tags/food/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]food[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] (he ate only beans and only once a day) and indoor places to sleep on cold nights (he was tough and he liked it better outside)[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][B][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman].[/FONT][/SIZE][/B] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][B]“I’d have given that man a key to my house and relax knowing he’d leave it better off than when he came,” said Bristol Virginia Police Lt. Sean Carrigan.[/B][/FONT][/SIZE] [B][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] grew up in Hazleton, Pa., near Three Mile Island, and he never quite lost his Yankee accent, his friends say. Years after the nuclear meltdown there, both of his parents died young of pancreatic cancer. Then his sister died, too, and he had no family left.[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]He was [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/position/tags/k9-officer/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]a K9 officer[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] in the [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/organization/tags/air-force/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Air Force[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] during Vietnam, but he never told his friends much about the war. He was a private person, they said. He wanted to talk about their families or his dogs or the books he was reading – from War and Peace and [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/mark-twain/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Mark Twain[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] to the romance novels he gave to [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/position/tags/gas-station-cashier/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]a gas station cashier[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] once he’d finished them.[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]On the narrow trail to Lu’s shack, his dogs’ graves lay off to the side adorned with flower pots and a statue of St. [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/movie/tags/francis-of-assisi/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Francis of Assisi[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3], the patron saint of animals. [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] would sit in a folding chair across the path and remember them, his friends said. He once told [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Goad[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman] that “dogs don’t think;” they are loyal and loving and not because of what you look like or where you live.[/FONT][/SIZE][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“They were his best friends,” said Rhonda Harley, who works at Black Wolf Harley Davidson. “He was never worried about [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman], he was always worried about those animals. Even in the end.”[/FONT][/SIZE][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Just over two years ago, [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] learned he had [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/medicalcondition/tags/prostate-cancer/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]prostate cancer[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] that had metastasized to his bone, likely caused by Agent Orange exposure in the Vietnam War. He spent a week in the intensive care at the VA[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]. Doctors told [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]him[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] that nothing could be done – he had two years to live.[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]He got a prescription for painkillers and went home to his shack, where he continued a long-standing competition with a beaver over a spring that ran past his dog memorial park. The beaver would build a dam, [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] would tear it down and the beaver would build it up again. Rain made Lu’s bones hurt, but during one storm, the stream flooded and [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] watched the dam, and the beaver, float away. He told his friend, [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Goad[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3], that he “had the last laugh.”[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]The pain got to be too bad to walk like he was used to. He had just one dog, LuLu, left and he worried what would become of her.[/FONT][/SIZE][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]A year ago, after decades of only walking, he went to Crabtree Buick GMC, where [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/jim-clifton/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Jim Clifton[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3], his friend of 20 years, is the sales manager. He said he’d gotten his driver’s license, wanted a truck and liked a little red one sitting on the lot.[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]It cost just over $20,000 and he paid in cash. He had just a few thousand dollars left in his [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/industryterm/tags/bank-account/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]bank account[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3], [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/jim-clifton/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Clifton[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] said. He was not an eccentric millionaire, as rumor had it.[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] drove the truck, with LuLu at his side, to and from his monthly appointments at the VA. He was independent and contrary, [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/jim-clifton/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Clifton[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman] said, and didn’t want to bother anyone with his illness.[/FONT][/SIZE][/B] [B][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] was in excruciating pain, but he never complained, his friends said. They could see it in his eyes, his walk.[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][B]On his 62nd birthday, he signed a Do Not Resuscitate Order, pre-paid his cremation then gave his book collection to Highlands Juvenile Detention Center. A woman who works at the Harley Davidson store promised to take LuLu to her farm[/B][/FONT][/SIZE][B][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman].[/FONT][/SIZE][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Last Tuesday, he met with [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Goad[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] and said the pain was unbearable. He could barely walk, barely stand up. He gave [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]him[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] all the papers he would need – the funeral arrangements and the Do Not Resuscitate Order.[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“He did things his way,” [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Goad[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] said. They next day, [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] was taken to the hospital and he held on until Monday morning. He had dozens of visitors.[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“Some people always said, ‘poor [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3],’ ” said Lt. Carrigan. “But maybe he’s the one who had it figured out. He lived at peace with the world. He didn’t cause problems; he didn’t have problems. And I’m glad to have known him.”[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] [B][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/glenn-goad/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Goad[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] found a composition book in Lu’s things. [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman] was left-handed so he’d started at the back of the book and wrote forward.[/FONT][/SIZE][/B] [B][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]“How have we come to the assumption that you have to be housed, propertied and well dressed in the modern world?” [/SIZE][/FONT][URL="http://www2.tricities.com/topics/types/person/tags/lu-williams/"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Lu[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman] wrote. “True manliness is non-conformity.”[/FONT][/SIZE][/B] d [ATTACH=full]5099[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]5100[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]
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