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Joe Larson - Posted - 11/14/2008: 16:02:39
My good friend and one time picking buddy, Wilson Mabe passed away Wed afternoon. He was 87. Now you might think that he lived a long full life, but considering that his mother was 101 and several close relatives made it past the century mark, I say he was cut down in his prime.
He was a dear sweet man and a pretty good fiddler, banjo and guitar player. He had great stories to tell. He played square dances in beer joints and Legion Halls, on flat bed wagons and concert stages. He once played a barn dance where the band set up next to a big bucket of moonshine, a dipper hanging on the edge. And he's in the Digital Library of Appalachia http://152.97.110.20/cgi-bin/queryr...ROOT1=/Berea
And perhaps the most generous soul I ever knew, he would say "now I'm not rich but I've got plenty of money". He gave away untold numbers of fiddles to aspiring young players. When he inherited a Martin HD-18, he gave it to a guitar playing friend. When another fiddler said he couldn't make it to our jams because he didn't have the money to replace the bad tires on his car, Wilson bought him a new set. He paid all the dental bills for a fellow musician with bad teeth and no money. I'm told he even bought car for a man who was doing work for him.
Wilson drove the school bus for years and handed out treats for the kids and in later years he kept quarters in his pocket for the same purpose. He never had children of his own.
He could be gruff and short in his conversation, never having had a working acquaintance with words like 'please' and 'thank you' and he always called men 'boy'. One time after an unsuccessful attempt at FMB he turned to me and said, "Ain't much of a damn tune noway". I couldn't play the next tune for laughing.
I always said there was a special place in heaven for Wilson Mabe, and now there's no doubt in my mind where he is and what he's doing.
j
I''d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
fisher - Posted - 11/14/2008: 16:07:33
Sorry to hear about your friend.I wish I could have met him. I hope he found the way home.
steve davis - Posted - 11/14/2008: 16:12:36
You were lucky to know such a man,Joe.
"If it sounds good..."
banjoman42713 - Posted - 11/14/2008: 16:17:20
wilson was a fine man
fivebranch - Posted - 11/14/2008: 16:19:43
Sounds like a person I could have enjoyed being around. Sorry for your loss Joe. Rest in Peace Wlison Mabe. You gotta like that name Mabe.
(B&JO)
Reading "It''s How Some Folks Upload New Software In Their Brains!"
pstroud1 - Posted - 11/14/2008: 16:42:52
Sounds like a great guy.
I love old folks. I knew a guy in a sawmill in north Virginia once, Glenn Harr, He cussed and was grouchy and real short with most everyone. But when I'm talking to the Lord I always say, Lord I expect to see Glenn Harr as soon as I get through those gates and I still believe I will. He had a heart big as gold but the bottle had a little hold on his body.
Paul
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Your welcome as the flowers on the Mocking bird hill.
Kenneth Logsdon - Posted - 11/14/2008: 19:16:43
He had been around for a long time & will be missed ! Amen.. ( Whatever happened to his protegee, Atwell, Joe?, I haven't seen mike in twenty years or so!))
KL
Edited by - Kenneth Logsdon on 11/14/2008 19:18:01
Joe Larson - Posted - 11/14/2008: 19:56:06
I saw Mike at the funeral for the first time in maybe 5 years. Fine, fine fiddler. I once mentioned to Wilson that I understood he had taught Mike how to play the fiddle. "Nah", he said, "I was just there while he was learning". Typical.
j
I''d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
flake - Posted - 11/15/2008: 00:14:19
Joe----Such men are getting fewer and further between, and you can certainly count yourself privileged to have known him. I always feel saddened when their ranks are shortened, even when I never had the chance to know them personally.
My sincere condolences to you and all who will miss him.
mike
Joe Larson - Posted - 11/15/2008: 07:18:35
mike,
Not too long after I met him I decided to make it a project to record his fiddle tunes. Wilson knew tunes that I've never heard anyone else play. Some that apparently no one else had ever even heard of. "Dirty Butt" was one. 
I wish I had kept up with it, I only have 1 incomplete cassette tape of his music.
He was born into, schooled for and became adept at life in a world which no longer exists. And as you say such men (and women) are getting fewer and further between. I will cherish his story and his stories for a long time to come........hopefully.
j
I''d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
banjaboy - Posted - 11/20/2008: 12:19:11
The band in heaven gets bigger every day. I dont know the man but I feel sorry for your loss. Move over Vasser, another fiddler coming up!!
"I''m not the man I used to be"
catfowler - Posted - 11/24/2008: 21:21:41
It is with great interest that I found this post. You see, Wison Mabe is my uncle. To see that his memory, not only as a great musician, a story teller and generous friend- but great man has been remembered is a blessing indeed.
As said before, he was a man of few words, but his actions were that of a man from a kinder time. One were you helped out your fellow man, when and how you could.
It is a delight to hear more about a humble, great and talented man from others that knew him. Stories that I may never had heard without you. I would give anything to sit in his music room and listen to that music again... Thank you for sharing your memories of his life with us.
Catherine Fowler
Louisville, KY
dmiller - Posted - 11/24/2008: 22:05:08
Joe - - - I agree with Flake too. Folks of that caliber are (sadly) getting fewer each year, and one can always count it a blessing to have known one or two them. I knew a few folks like that too, and it sounds like you knew one of the really good ones.
Catherine --- welcome to the BHO site, even under these circumstances.
My prayers and condolences for you and your family and all his friends.
Seems like folks born in the 20's and 30's went by a different set of rules,
that seem to have been lost over the years by most. May he RIP.
David
