Harold once told the Staunton News Leader that looking back on his life in the limelight almost felt surreal. “I don’t know if anyone will show up or not,” he said. A week before the Statler Brothers’ final concert in Roanoke, Virginia, he mentioned it would be their last time to perform. Don was the adult class Sunday School teacher, and every week Harold sat across from his brother listening intently. Harold and Don seldom missed a Sunday at the Olivet Presbyterian Church on Richmond Avenue. She’s probably having second thoughts again.” “Thanks to her she made me want to prove I could succeed,Īnd if she reads the papers and remembers who I am, As life turned out, it may have given Harold a bit of glee. “Keep them as long you need them,” he said with a wave of his hand as he drove off.Ī few years ago, Harold penned a song that gave us a glimpse of his more serious side, titled “Second Thoughts.” The song was about a girlfriend’s mother who didn’t think Harold was good enough for her daughter and wouldn’t allow her to see him. It wasn’t long before he returned with a sump pump and a generator in tow. “I have just what you need,” he said, as he turned his old pickup around and took off without saying another word. ![]() He stopped to chat for a few minutes, and I happened to tell him about our flooded basement. Harold saw Brenda and me standing outside in our front yard after a hurricane had struck our area. Underneath Harold’s clownish exterior, he was a serious, religious, smart, and polite gentleman. His brother, Don, lived only a couple of blocks away from us, going the other direction on North Augusta Street. Unbeknownst to us, Harold and his wife lived just around the corner and down the hill from us on East Beverley Street. It was a peaceful, welcoming neighborhood. We moved into a lovely, older two-story, brick home that occupied the corner of North Coalter and Taylor Streets. Greg still remembers, and asked me about it after hearing of Harold’s death.īrenda and I relocated to Staunton, Virginia in 1993. ![]() Harold reached down and tousled Greg’s blond hair and said, “Hi, Buddy!” Midway into the parade, the Statler Brothers’ float turned the corner of the parade route and stopped directly in front of us. We even traveled to Staunton on the Fourth of July celebration to watch the parade and concert. He and I would sit in our old Cutlass in the driveway and sing along with the Statlers’ 8-track tapes. ![]() Once I became a fan of the Statler Brothers, son Greg, six years old at the time, soon followed. Harold Reid was the bass singer for the Statler Brothers who hit that low note. The song is about a guy whose girlfriend had left him, and he is in a bad spot, counting flowers on the wall and playing solitaire with a deck that’s missing a card. Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo …”Īs Cindy Correll once noted, “Every time the song played, we all couldn’t wait to sing the low bass (“Kang”) Captain Kangaroo” in “Flowers on the Wall” by the Statler Brothers.
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