Letter to the editor: A special 100th birthday message to Bill Livers

Howdy Livers:
I want you to know that I did not forget your cool 100th birthday.
As long as I can remember, you were going to live to be “a cool 100.”
Livers, you’ve been gone 23 years and the ones who knew and loved you still misses you. Every so often someone will say, “Big Jim, tell me a Bill Livers story.”
Now Livers, if you can remember, there were quite a few of them we could not tell in mixed company ... or should not tell, I must say. But sometimes, you would just say, “Let it fly, Jimmy Ware. Hee Hee.”
Those were the ones most people wanted to hear and remember Bill Livers telling.
Livers, things have really changed here in Owen County since you’ve been gone.
We have a winery here now, but it’s a lot bigger than the one you had in that stripping room of Miss (You Know Who). I can still hear her say, “Bill, what’s that odor?”
They grow very little tobacco in the county compared to what they grew when you were raising tobacco. There is one big change that would affect you the most. They have four different flavors of Pall Mall. When I see a red pack of Pall Mall, I think of Uncle Bill.
You were a big part of my life. Had it not been for you, my life would have been a lot different because you taught me to laugh at myself as well as at others in fun, and be ready to lend a helping hand.
So I will say, “Thanks, Livers.”
As we said when batching, “Good night, old boy.”

Jim Ware