Date Posted:21:54:50 06/22/01 Fri Author:Randy Snow Author Host/IP: msp-65-25-244-162.mn.rr.com / 65.25.244.162 Subject: GOOD BYE GREAT MAN
No doubt you have all heard of Caroll O'Connor's passing from a heart attack at home last night. I just realized something tonight, why his Archie Bunker character meant a lot too me. My step-grandfather on my mom's side was very much like Archie. He was opinionated, racist, extremely sexist, anti-Semitic, and pretty loud mouthed...but....like Archie, Grandpa Dutcher had a soft and tender side that would come forward at special times when you would least expect it. I think he often said things for shock value, and, like Archie, he loved to state his prejudice and onions loudly. Like Archie too, he would deny that he was racist and then in the next breath use derogatory names for different races, religions, and tell off color jokes about women. I think the two of them learned their behaviors from other people around them. Even though Caroll O'Connor was not totally Archie, he, as a person, shared several traits with my Grandpa Dutcher. Both would be there for you when you really needed them. Both would give up their shirt to help someone in dire need.
I lost my step grandfather in December or so of 1992. My mom didn't tell me about his passing in California for over two years. Caroll O'Connor's passing, in a way, is like losing another grandfather...While millions of people will miss both the character's and the man...I feel a big loss tonight as Caroll and Archie are now gone forever from life on this earth. For me, all three of them will live on in my heart, mind, and soul.
