The 30th Anniversary of Papaw's Death
Almost fifty-three years ago, I became your grandson.
You died 30 years ago today at the age of seventy-one.
You became sick when a doctor prescribed you some Dilantin.
The allergy ended your life and we would never see you again.
Your death hurt others as well as me.
Your body was in such a bad shape that you had a closed casket ceremony.
The Dilantin was what made your body end up in such a bad shape.
When you perished, almost two hundred people attended your wake.
You lived in Sneedville but passed away in a hospital in Morristown.
It was a sad day thirty years ago when we buried you in the ground.
[Dedicated to Burley R. Johnson (1923-1994) who died 30 years ago today on August 3, 1994]
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