Legendary Friend Passes

My friendship with Archie Green sprouted about three years ago and now with his death I feel our relationship has reached higher than I ever could have imagined. In the final weeks of his life Archie was busy wrapping up his affairs and making sure that his life work, loved ones and many protege's would continue to grow and be a part of future generations. I'm honored to say that I am an Archie Green protege.

His life and death are symbolic of a man who believed that individuals have a responsibility to the group(s) they're a part of, whether that group be national, social, religious or other. Archie's views didn't always agree with my own, but we could sit and digest what each was saying without getting heartburn.

Archie is a natural born teacher who wants to enlighten any and all listeners to stories and ideas they might never have heard before. And if one has already heard the story, Archie goes immediately from teacher to student by quieting down and intently listening to what may be a newly revealed twist on an old story. Imagine a 91 year old man capable of learning something new from a person half his age, or even younger. This is what makes Archie such an easy person to befriend regardless of your age, gender or race, he welcomes everyone into his circle of life and death.

If ever someone could teach me how to die, Archie was the man. He approached death just as he had life. If he found reason to protest and fight there would be no hesitation in doing so. Archie was a firm believer in the struggle toward rights for the working man. And if he found that circumstances warrant he accept whatever fate lay at his doorstep, he could swallow the bitter pill, open the door and greet the visitor.

I know that Archie is on a journey of discovery as I write this letter. Energy like that of Archie's just doesn't dissipate into the ether like cosmic dust. No, my friend Archie is soaring soulfully through the galaxies observing and choosing what world is in need of his services. And where ever he lands will become a better place for its occupants to tread on thanks to Archie's arrival.

Archie Green
Folklorist/Laborlore Scholar
1917-2009

"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation…want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters…. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
Frederick Douglass