Smoke On KC!
 

Well Brethren.. i am back from KC's funeral... it was a hard time, and i will post later when i have some energy.. we met KC's family, shared some tears and some laughs, but one thing that was most apparent was the love that KC had for us, and the Brethren, and the art of BBQ. We saw sections of Kc's life, from birth to death, and much of it was around his music, his craft and his love of what we do. We were a very large part of his funeral, our eulogies from the memorial pages were read, the song from that page was played during the service, and our stories were shared with his family. KC was sent off wearing his brethren hat, his Brethren tee shirt layed beside him under a log of cherry wood. He truly was one of our most cherished members. It took me a long time to gather the composure to meet Jeanne and Zach, which was quickly lost when i got up there. I went up with JT at my side, but I reminded myself that we were there for all of us.. and especially the locals and teams who were out competing and could not attend.. That is where KC would have insisted they go.. Jeanne knew immediately who we were.. and Zach is a young gentlemen, yet i expected the vision I had from years ago, Zach as a child holding the fish on the dock when he and KC went fishing.. but he is not a child.. he is a young man. i went to the car and returned with my Brethren Hat and a Tee shirt for him.. as Jorge phrased it, it was passing the torch, Zach is now an honorable brethren. He is really a great kid, apparent even in the brief conversations we had.. i see now why KC adored the kid.. I hope it will check in here. We left the funeral to go meet up with the teams..

Sidebar: On the way back i get stopped by the sheriff.. doing 68 in a 45.. farkin wide open country road, i just get off the highway where there is a 70mph speed limit, make the turn and hit resume on the cruise control, as it pumps back up to 70, i get clocked by Barney Fife. Now, the NY'er, in the bright red jeep getting pulled over by Dudley DoRight in BFE and getting away with a warning.. is either pure luck, or higher power.. but i got away with a warning.. better than a 200 ticket... The trooper could have nailed me.. but he let me off.. Thank you Mr.officer.

The rest of the weekend.. i choose to think of it as..........

KC is hosting a bash.. he brought so many of us together in so many ways that would have never been done, and he has opened my eyes to many things. All our thoughts centered around our new guardian angel.... who I am sure was watching over us this weekend. In what was such a weekend of sorrow and mourning, so much good and laughter came out of it, KC would be proud. Myself, reg, Jorge, we flew in fro 3 states, to meet with all the MoFos, BigDog and JT drove many hours to get there too. We did it the way he wants us to do it..together... it was in his memory and in his honor. Flags flew at half mast, teams had their armbands on, we requested a moment of silence during the competition. The bellybros did a brief eulogy at the bandstand as Jay held a chimney of flaming cherry to the heavens. The crowd fell silent as the cherry wood flamed and the band went into lynards skynards "simple man"... it was at that point, that it hit me the hardest.. I looked around at all the dozens of Brethren there, pictured him among us and said, time to move on.. we formed a circle, had a few short words.. and Greg summed it up as we broke..

Love ya KC.. SMOKE ON!!!!

Shortly after, we all removed our armbands..
Every chapter closes before a new one starts.. and this starts a new chapter in our group.. The spirit of the Brethren will live on, better, and KC will always be part of it. I will continue to add to the memorial page for a day or two at which time it, and this forum will be moved to our archives accessible only by a single post.

We do it the way KC would want, hes OK, now his job is to watch over our smoke.....

as long as we cook with cherry. :wink:


Smoke On Brethren!!!


Here is the Moment of silence.. Sorry for the poor quality, and i missed the very beginning because of my fat fingers. :oops: I am going to post the pictures of the event in a separate thread, and the rundown of 'the bash'..... and competition.. and i have some somber stuff form the funeral that i will post her in this thread.. but right now, i need some sleep..

Phil and the rest of the entourage, thank you so much for being there for the rest of us. Your summation of the funeral and trip stands alone. Nothing needs to be added when you "have the energy". Scott will never be forgotten, but forever missed.

Beerguy

Yes, what beerguy said.
Thanks again brothers.

That was a very fitting tribute.... the words, the chimney starter flames, the moment of silence and song....

Smoke on Brother KC !!!!

I wish I could have been there to share the support this fine group of individuals has to offer. You will not find a group with a larger passion for their common interest as well as the care, concern and support for all those involved.

The Brethren is a true and pristine example of brotherhood!!!!!

thanks for the showing gents. It sounds like you were able to help start the healing process for many there.... And maybe we'll see Zach @ the Cattle Call.....

Smoke on brothers!

man....I hate to say this but, that brought a tear to my eye and the ol broke down and cried when she saw the video. Rock on Kc....you will always be remembered in the house of Williams.

Good post Joe!!

I didn't know KC - but that brought some tears to this NY'rs eyes. I'm gonna head out and light a fire now.

Thanks for the summary, Phil. I wish I could have been there.

I didn't know KC personally but got teary-eyed when I read about his passing. He was special to many in different ways. Way too young with so much of the journey in front of him.

Smoke on brother....

Going to Scott's funeral was one of the hardest things that I have ever done. The only thing that made it bearable was that I was there with four other of my brothers, Phil, Greg, Jorge and jt. We were not there for our selves, rather there to represent all of us. The spirt of the Brethren was strong that day, evidenced by the feeling in that room, the "no ticket" on the way back, and the great showing by all the teams cooking this weekend. This was a great weekend for the Brethren.

Right after the service, we went to the local bar and toasted one for our fallen brother. This was why Phil was so nervous when he got pulled over. He was no drunk by any means and not in danger of being arresed, but Barney Fife noticed it and commented to Phil that "he seemed nervous." Phil's reply later was that the cop was standing there "with a glock." That would make anyone nervous.

Meeting all the brothers and partying at the comps was a blast. I got to meet many new brothers and renew old friendships with those that I had met previously. I told several people that this is the only good thing about a funeral.

It was also nice to pay my respects to Jeanne and Zach. Hopefully Zach will continue his grandpa's love of cooking and join the Brethren some day. We are all out of hats, only 50 were made, but Phil gave him his along with a t-shirt. You are now a Brethern Zach.

At the funeral, Jeanne's sister had made up a collage of pictures that Scott had taken at the last midwest bash. It was awesome. She had the pictures of Greg's gnomes with turtles surrounding the perimeter. She understands.

So all of you that wanted to go to the funeral but couldn't, don't fret. You were well represented. We were there for all of you.

Dog out.

For the benefit of those that don't know him, the brother on stage that gave the speech about Scott while Spicebag held the torch was Bellybro, a.k.a. John. Great job brother.

The LS "Simple Kinda Man" song that followed was awesome. The guy that sang and played it just nailed it. Scott would have loved it. He was a simple kind of man, but very caring and knowledgeable. His complexity was in his understanding and appreciation of simple things.

Quite the experience this weekend. One that most people in this world won't ever get a chance to experience as far as I am concerned. The coming together of a brotherhood to mourn, and clebrate the life of, a fallen brother. Then the trip all over to spend time with more brothers. I know for a fact that the whole hurried weekend has hepled me as well as others to push through and get on with our lives as KC would have wanted.

My flag has been at half mast and will go back up today. On Friday for the bash the flag will come back down to half mast as the brethren roll into town. On Saturday at some time, we will plant a cherry tree in my yard followed by raising the flag back to full mast at which time I will swap out the flag with the larger one that I just got for my flag pole. I will then try to get a flag pole for competitions that the smaller 3 x 5 will fly on.

It was wonderful to meet all of the brothers these past few days and share this time with all of them. I'll see some of you this weekend as you make the trek toward my house, and I'll probably see the rest of you next year as the fall midwest bash gets moved further south.

Good food, good drinks, and good fellowship that was shared this weekend is what the Bbq-brethren is all about.

I didn't know him well, but may there be blessings on KC and his family. Last night, I sat in the dark listening to the crickets, cars and sirens passing in the dark, seasoning the new cooker and I threw on some cherry and thought of KC and the brethren and let the smoke and heat pour from the firebox into my face. I'm wearing that shirt again today.

Sweet blue to you, KC.