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]