Glamour Pat:

Patrick Graham (June 21, 1965 - September 25, 2005)

Eudora:

When I occasionally mention to people that I grew up in Mississippi I invariably get one of two reactions. First, and my favorite, is the image of me swinging in front of an Antebellum mansion while slaves pick cotton in the fields and the Mississippi river rolls by in the distance. Second, and least amusing, is the vision of me as a barefooted ragamuffin sucking on a hayseed in front of a sharecroppers shack in the Delta.

















Neither image is accurate but rather something in between. Mississippi is a fabulous state filled with history and landscape, famous writers, innovators, entertainers and beauty queens. Miss Mississippi was once a mainstay of the top ten at the Miss America pageant. Far more interesting a place to have roots and ancestry than say Iowa. Not that there is anything wrong with Iowa but you get the idea.


















Patrick was equally as eccentric as myself and we became fast friends. Two qwars adrift on the island of misfit toys. Patrick had the distinction of living in the esteemed neighborhood of Belhaven, two houses down from Armand Coulett conductor of the Mississippi Symphony, three houses down from Belhaven college where Lipsynka attended classes, and five houses away from the famous authoress Eudora Welty. Nice neighborhood, mine was better but that’s another story.

















One day I hatched the brilliant plan to be Eudora for Halloween. An ambitious effort to say the least as she was not the most attractive woman. She was downright homely with a horse face and buck teeth a spinster a working women a photographer and a journalist. She was ever so famous and I would occasionally meet her in the produce aisle of the Jitney Jungle grocery store. She was an entirely accessible celebrity. I ran into her again the night her play The Ponder Heart debuted and she remembered me. That’s a fond memory.



















Anyway so Patrick and I were sitting around on Halloween drinking and smoking. We were lit. I had decided that I wanted to be Eudora Welty and show up at her house dressed as her to do a little trick or treating. I thought it would be amusing that she would open the door to find herself on the stoop staring back. I imagined a whole short story devoted to the incident.



















About that time Patrick produced a gray wig and some false teeth. Patrick was a wizard with makeup and he whipped up a concoction of cornstarch, Elmer’s glue and rouge. It replicated the delicate complexion of Ms. Welty to precision. Patrick of course was a dashing ghoul with a top hat and tails. We set out on our adventure.
















We arrived at Ms. Welty’s estate around seven o’clock. The lights were still on and as we stepped up to her pseudo Tudor I could see her purse through the window placed neatly beside the sofa. We opened the screen door to knock when we saw a notice affixed to the door. We both silently read it then we looked at one another and had the same idea. Each of us reaching our hands out grabbing for the little note. I happened to be the quickest.






















It’s signed in crayon!

Patrick's Photographs:

Patrick was a trifle eccentric. Prone to wearing Victorian get-ups, top hats, smoking pajamas, and spats. He was also a voracious collector who hoarded anything Coca-Cola. His obsession with Coke began well before the current craze and as a result he amassed an enormous emporium. Buy low and sell high was a motto, and it lined his pockets.






















He staged the longest running “Going out of Business Sale” in recent history, every other weekend for 25 years. I miss the going out of business sale, it practically furnished my home. I’ve become a yard sale snob and sometimes just do a “drive by” assessment often turning my nose up at the paltry offerings.













Thanks Patrick for boosting my estate sale aesthetic, nothing (furniture wise) interests me anymore unless it’s a true antique. By the way just cause your Mamaw owned it don’t make it antique!













Patrick's Photographs...

Patrick's Photographs:

Patrick's Photographs...

Patrick's Photographs:

Sometimes there is early evidence of the way your life is going to turn out. That little suspicion of a personality that is askew. I can't quite put my finger on it but there is definitely something wrong with that boy. As Patrick’s good friend Danileah said, “Patrick’s not Gay he’s just a little Qwar!”


Patrick's Photographs...

Patrick's Photographs:

For Miss Janey who kindly requested,"MORE COSTUMES PLEASE..."

Patrick's Photographs...

Patrick's Photographs:

Halloween costume, "The Grave Robber" circa 1989, Patrick won the costume contest with a prize of $500.00 dollars. We spent hours putting this together, Patrick scrounging up the clothing including my "coffin table" and myself providing the make-up, it consisted of flour, water and Elmer's glue.

Patrick's Photographs...

Patrick's Photographs:

While hunting wild game in Australia, Colonel Witherspoon bagged a ferocious rampaging kangaroo moments before it attacked his hunting party. Proud of his kill he had it stuffed, mounted and displayed at the Mountainside Safari Club of which he was a prominent member of good standing.


Patrick's Photographs...

Patrick's Photographs:

My best friend Patrick Graham divorced his hateful single mother, took her to court for a competency hearing, emancipated himself at the age of fifteen, and moved in with his maternal grandmother. One day he had been rooting through the attic and found his mother’s wedding dress, ran over to my house, ripped open the sealed box, put the dress on and we took glamour pictures of him wearing it! The above photo is a picture that I snapped of Patrick wearing his mother's wedding dress. Sadly Patrick passed away in 2005 but not before he appointed me the executor of his will and entrusted me with his valuable possessions, photographs and antiques. Patrick was a junk dealer who traveled all over the USA setting up at various flea markets selling his wares. He had the most interesting life and stories and was an avid photographer, which is well documented, these are but some of Patrick’s Photographs.