Johnny Weaver passed away at his home in Charlotte NC on February
15, 2008.
He was 72 years old.
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Funerals are never fun to attend. But
there was something uplifting about what took place at Johnny
Weaver’s funeral. That was due largely to the honest and moving
words delivered by two who eulogized him, and the grace of a
grieving daughter still wounded by the sudden and unexpected loss of
her father.
Johnny Weaver was buried yesterday in
Forest Lawn East Cemetery in Mathews NC. Ironically, he was buried
less than 15 yards from where another legend of wrestling was laid
to rest 16 years ago, his friend Gene Anderson.
I had never been in a funeral
procession for someone in law enforcement before. One of the lasting
memories I will have of that day was toping each hill on the way to
graveside and seeing stretched out before me a line of seemingly
endless patrol cars with the blue lights flashing, slowing winding
through Mecklenburg County, on their way to see Johnny laid to
rest. It was a jolting reminder that a brotherhood of officers had
lost one of their own. And they were there in force to say goodbye.
Many in the wrestling community had
come to say goodbye to Johnny as well, great names in the business
spanning generations, much like Johnny’s long career had touched so
many generations of wrestling fans. Those that were there either at
the family visitation or the funeral included wrestlers Ivan Koloff,
Abe Jacobs, Sandy Scott, Don and Wally Kernodle, Rene Goulet, Nikita
Koloff, Tony Romano, Bill White, Jim Nelson, Belle Starr, Jim
Holiday, Rick McCord, George South, and Mike Weddle. Also present
were wrestling broadcasters Bob Caudle and Rich Landrum, referees
Tommy Young and Stu Schwartz, and a member of the family who ran
wrestling in the Mid-Atlantic territory for over 50 years, Jackie
Crockett. There were certainly others who I didn’t know or did not
recognize or I may have forgotten. I apologize to them for not
including them here. And of course, one of the biggest names ever
in the business was there, supporting her daughter and her family,
the gracious Penny Banner.
An hour or so before the long
procession to Mathews, a service began which both mourned the death
but also celebrated the life of Johnny Weaver. Johnny’s daughter
Wendi had asked Don Kernodle to speak. Don and Johnny had been
friends for Don’s entire career in wrestling which began in the
early 1970s, but they had been best friends in the years that
followed after their wrestling careers had ended. Don gave a quiet,
emotional, gut wrenching eulogy. Breaking down several times, he
shared what it had meant to him to know and love Johnny Weaver
almost all of his life. “Have any of you ever loved someone before
you even knew them?” Kernodle asked. “That is what it was like for
me with Johnny Weaver. I loved him as child growing up watching
wrestling.” In those few words, Don summed up what it was like for
many of us as both fans and friends. “And then getting to know and
working with Johnny was cool in other ways, too. Not only was Johnny
one of the greatest wrestlers ever, he was married to the greatest
woman wrestler ever, Penny Banner. And their daughter was a champion
at horse riding. This was a championship family.” Don spoke about
what a professional Weaver was through his entire career, always on
time, always dressed in coat and tie, and what an example that set
to everyone.
As most of you know, Johnny’s career in
the wrestling business ended about the same time Ted Turner bought
the Crockett family wrestling business. Faced with a forced career
change and relocation to Atlanta, but with his priorities now on benefits and securing a pension
(something the wrestling business had never provided), at 53 years of
age Johnny Weaver became the oldest ever rookie in the Mecklenburg County
Sherriff’s Department. But as his Captain later told us, he was
tougher, stronger, and in better shape than some officers half his
age.
Captain Mike Smith spoke last about
Johnny in what was one of the most moving eulogies I’ve ever heard.
His words were all at once thoughtful while honest, funny and then
heart breaking. We laughed and we cried. Captain Smith was
Johnny’s boss on the force. He spoke very bluntly about what the day
was like for him when Johnny unexplainably hadn’t shown up for work,
something that just never happened, because Johnny Weaver never
missed work and was always on time. It was a griping account that
told of a difficult trip through morning rush traffic, blue lights on,
and then the cold feeling in his gut when he arrived at Johnny’s
house and saw the telling looks on the faces of his fellow officers.
He spoke of Johnny in recent years dealing with the insecurities of
aging while trying to pass the rigorous physical tests required to
remain on the force, and how inspired he was to run beside him
during one of those tests. He told stories of prisoners who wanted
test the legendary wrestler to see if the old guy still had it in
him, and how a few that did lived to regret it. Many in the
department had grown up watching Johnny wrestle and were big fans,
too. One of the best moments was lamenting the loss of one of
Johnny’s great skills he brought to the department, that ability of
wrestlers who spent 365 days a year for decades riding the roads
from town to town to know the best way to get anywhere. Johnny knew
all the back roads and shortcuts, and knew the places to eat along
the way. The department, Capt. Smith joked, would have to buy maps of North
Carolina, South Carolina and several other surrounding states
because their friend and brother that had led them along all those
the back roads was now gone.
And Wendi Weaver; what a warm and
gracious lady, clearly devastated by the sudden loss of her father,
yet greeting everyone after the burial with heartfelt thanks and
hugs and that same warm smile that was her father’s.
It was an emotional day for everyone:
for the family of course; for those officers who had worked with
Johnny for 19 years at the Mecklenburg County Sherriff’s Department;
for the wrestlers, several of whom had wrestled with and against
Johnny in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling since back in the 1960s; and for
friends, some life-long and others like me that, similar to Don
Kernodle had loved Johnny long before they had the privilege to call
him a friend.
Back in November of last year, just a
little over three months ago, Johnny and I sang “Turn Out The
Lights, the Party’s Over” together at a surprise birthday party
several of us had thrown for him. It is a memory I will treasure for
the rest of my life. And just as Captain Smith had also alluded to
as he said goodbye to Johnny, the lights are now dark, but the light
that Johnny brought to all our lives will shine brightly forever.
- Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
February 21, 2008
This article was written for the
Johnny Weaver Blog website at
www.JohnnyWeaver.net
Link to article:
http://johnnyweaver.blogspot.com/2008/02/saying-goodbye.html
© 2008
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
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