EULOGY -- DANNY YOUNG

Forever Young

Guest book writings sampled a eulogy for restaurateur/musician who died Aug. 20

We've never seen such a moving community-writing exercise as when those whose lives have been touched by Danny Roy Young's generosity of spirit reacted to the news that the former Texicalli Grille owner (and rub board player) died of a heart attack on Aug. 20. Besides filling nearly 20 pages on the legacy.com guestbook, grievers posted more than 175 comments on Austin360.com. The above poem was constructed by Michael Corcoran from comments posted on austin360.com/musicsource by Lisa Pankratz, Robert L. Anderson, Bo Platt, Dianne Scott, Paul Goode, Joe Nick Patoski, Marcia Ball, Cameron Daly, James Cooley, Ann-Marie M. Irwin, J Cafe, Betina Foreman and Carol Chocklett.

A poem for Danny Young

Tears will roll down my cheeks and across a smile at the thought of Danny Roy/ the rare kind who made you feel good for just being/he was the soul of Kingsville who became the soul of Austin

I weep for the kindest, coolest person I've ever known, knuckling down like a man for the hard parts/ I'll never hear anyone say "Hi Shuge!" quite the same way/ The joy, the joy

How rare it is to have a person in your life who doesn't talk about being good but just is/ He was better at living than any person I've ever known/ Austin's star just got a little dimmer

Danny knew it all boiled down to one thing, to "just be nice"/ his other motto was: Love 'em all, let God sort 'em out/ If there's any way to honor Danny's life, it would be to love one another and say so

Add up all the small kindnesses and somehow a guy with a sandwich joint (by day) and rub board (by night) ended up making a big difference/ There will never be another Mayor of South Austin