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Kingfish Everhart 
Born April 25th, 1913 Leslie Everhart has been known and referred to as Kingfish by all but his wife for most all of his life. He remains to this day a "businessman"; not too long ago trying to sell his black & white TV to me, his granddaughter-in-law. He told me it worked good - got three channels if you counted the UHF channel 25. That's right - it had a dial, well two dials actually and an antenna of course. To be honest it was impressive. This TV was working from his basement you see. And he was offering it to me for a mere $25. Now I don't watch much more than three channels so as TV's go - this was a good deal. Turns out however, this TV was in fact my husbands originally. Yes that would be Kingfish - selling his grandsons TV to his grandsons wife. Smart move really. That is one of my fondest recollections of Kingfish. Granny didn't always have the same fond memories - may she rest in peace. However, I doubt she would deny Kingfish' willingness to work. A railroad man for much of his life and a junkyard man for much more. Today, Kingfish continues to battle with the residual effects of asbestos exposure and the physical breakdown that hard labor eventually brings on, yet he still has a sharp wit and a memory few could match. He's outlived everyone he's known. And he knew many. He dug graves and to hear him tell it could catch a skunk without being sprayed. Why would someone do that? One could sell skunks fur you see and that's our Kingfish. Some suggest his nickname has stuck because he's the image of a character named Kingfish from the 30s radio show Amos and Andy. Kingfish tells - well, Kingfish actually never tells us how he got his nickname. We like him just the same. He's our grandfather and we've come to believe in his value of character, community and honest trading as it was done a half century ago. KingfishsAntiques@verizon.net |