THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 9, 1995 TAG: 9507090223
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BELVIDERE, N.C. LENGTH: Long : 119 lines
They came by the hundreds. Bikers and broadcast executives. Old folks and small children. Fans attired in Sunday best and cut-off shorts.
All to remember Wolfman Jack.
They gathered under the emerald magnolia trees and sprawling pines to pay their last respects to the radio icon who died July 1. He was 57.
In his long career as a disc jockey, Wolfman Jack entertained legions of radio listeners and inspired a generation of disc jockeys. He broke into the business at Newport News and Norfolk radio stations.
And while there were some tears, Saturday's memorial service at Wolfman Jack's home on the banks of the Perquimans River was more of a celebration. Before the service, folks danced and clapped and laughed as The Mighty Clouds of Faith singers provided a gospel backbeat.
Nearby, a gray marble headstone, topped with Wolfman's black broad-brimmed hat with a silver band, read ``The Wolfman, Robert Weston Smith, Born Jan. 21, 1938. Died July 1, 1995. One More Time.''
A few feet away, a boombox blared the sounds of the McCoys hit ``Hang on Sloopy.'' It was the Wolfman, on the air again, as if he had never left.
Along the base of the marker were phrases that made the Wolfman an international hit.
``Have mercy.''
``Who's this on the Wolfman's telephone?''
``One more time.''
``Wolfman wanted a party,'' said his longtime publicist, Dell Lang. ``He wanted a celebration. He's not gone; he'll be around as long as people are playing the music he loved.''
Sprays of flowers - sent by fans and celebrities, like former ``Midnight Special'' producer Burt Sugarman and his wife, ``Entertainment Tonight'' host Mary Hart - guarded the gravesite. Letters of condolence came from President Clinton, North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt, ``American Graffiti'' director George Lucas and rock legends Joe Walsh and Alice Cooper. Wolfman was remembered as a man who loved the music he played, his fans and his family.
Wolfman's brother-in-law, Emile Achee, eulogized him as ``a young man who had a dream that came true.''
Achee read a poem from the book ``Chicken Soup for the Soul.''
``Love does not die, people do,'' Achee read, his voice breaking. ``When all that is left of me is love, give me away.''
Internationally known televangelist and author the Rev. Robert Schuller said that while Wolfman Jack's stay on earth was brief, longevity is not an accurate measure of a fruitful life.
``It's not the duration, it's the donation that counts in life,'' Schuller said. ``Did you make a difference? He did.''
Schuller read excerpts from the DJ's personal journal.
``If you do right, you'll come out right.''
He also wrote: ``Helping other people is what happiness is all about.''
And: ``Whatever God needs for me to do, I'll do it.''
Schuller also read a letter from Wolfman's wife of 34 years, Lou Lamb Smith.
``All he tried to form was a circle of love,'' she wrote. ``He has waited long enough in the green room of life to do his biggest performance, before the throne of the Almighty.''
But before and after the service, longtime colleagues remembered the DJ with the soul and sandpaper voice as a loyal friend.
``Wolfman helped me get into the business,'' said Bruce Goldberg, now a senior producer for Sony Worldwide Radio in New York. ``Everyone can make friends. The tough part's keeping 'em. Once you were a friend of the Wolfman's, you were a friend for life.''
Goldberg, a former producer for Casey Kasem's ``American Top 40,'' said Wolfman's enthusiasm for the business was legendary.
``He had a love for radio, and for people that was contagious,'' Goldberg said. ``You had to be excited just being around him. He was bigger than life.''
Mike Walker, who produced Wolfman's Hollywood show in the 1970s, said his friend had only one mission in life.
``His purpose was happiness. Before he went to the Jukebox in the Sky, he didn't know why he was a phenomenon. But he was. And it was because he loved people.''
Frank ``Mars'' Catolo, a writer for Wolfman Jack, said ``I'd be doing a disservice to our friendship if I tried to narrow down his life to one thing. He truly was an icon.''
But most among the nearly 400 who more than doubled the population of this small Perquimans County community were fans. They came to remember a man who kept them dancing through three decades.
``I grew up listening to him,'' said Charlie Marshall of Chesapeake. ``I met him at the Chesapeake Jubilee, and he told me to come down here some time. That's why I'm here.''
Marshall's sister, Vanessa McPherson of New Hope, N.C., said they listened to the Wolfman for another reason.
`` `Cause Momma said to turn it off,'' McPherson said. ``Momma and Daddy didn't want hear it. You know how kids are. That made us want to turn it up.''
The only tears evident on this day of celebration came as family and friends filed past the marker where his ashes will be enshrined.
``Party on Wolfman,'' a mourner said, choking back tears.
Nearby, wearing cut-off shorts, a T-shirt, and a red baseball cap, long-haul trucker Billy Krilovich stood quietly.
``I live in New Hampshire,'' he said, eyes fixed on the headstone. ``I wish I had gotten a chance to meet him. When I was growing up, I lived in New Jersey. We listened to him all the time.''
Krilovich, 45, was delivering a truckload of potatoes in nearby Elizabeth City, and came to pay his respects. The truckers words summed up the feelings of a world of fans who came to know Wolfman Jack through radio, television and movie roles.
Krilovich said simply, ``He will be well missed.'' ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPHER REDDIC/Staff color photos
Wolfman Jack's wife of 34 years, Lou Lamb Smith, holds hands with
their daughter, Joy, during the memorial service Saturday.
The Rev. Robert Schuller hugs Lou Lamb Smith.
Photo
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
Wolfman Jack's headstone and items left in his memory were on
display during his memorial service Saturday in Belvidere, N.C.
by CNB