Kaye was the drive, the
motivation and the reason the Bayou Billy Company has
become what we are today! I had to keep her proud of
me and I always kept working toward our future.
She made a lot of suggestions over the
years that made a difference. And she had the roughest
job on earth; she had to take care of me. Believe me,
that alone was a full-time job.
In 14 years together, we had only one major
fuss. It ironically was about the Tin Mug. We were making
ends meet in Lake Worth, FL. I came up with the mug idea.
It was going to cost too much to make, she thought.
I sold an Ice Cream Machine and didn't
tell her and was able to order the equipment I needed
with the profit I made from the sale. She got off work
that day at 1pm just when the UPS man arrived. I hurried
home just in time to find the UPS man standing there
with his hand out waiting for his COD's. That was NOT
a good day. She didn't speak for two days!
We really couldn't afford the expense to
manufacture the Tin Mugs at that time. I made the 360
Mugs and we had a show in Morehaven, FL that Saturday.
She was still upset. The gates opened at 11am and we sold
all 360 Tin Mugs by 1pm.
We were Out of Mugs! I looked over at Kaye
and with a grin she said "Looks like I had a good idea,
didn't I?" I said "Yes, honey you sure did!" That was the
end of the fuss. From that day onward Kaye proved to always
be in my corner!
Kaye had such a good heart. Often Kaye would
bring someone that she thought couldn't
afford our food, and have me feed them for free. I'd fix
them up a Big Sampler and a Tin Mug with drink from our
Mobile Restaurant. Her reasoning was that the person might
be our gaurdian angel testing us, so we had so assume everyone
was an angel.
Kaye came down with cancer in November of
2004. It was in her face under her eye. For the next 15
months she put forth a gallant effort to beat this horrible
disease. In May 18, 2006, she was too tired to go on.
I know Kaye is with the angels she fed on
earth.
One Day we shall all be together again.
Bayou Billy |
