There are a lot more pictures below.
My Fellow Weasels,
It is with great heartache and compassion that I come to you with the mournful report of the passing of Billy Severe Jr. AKA; "Precious".
This evening while visiting with Danno and Terry we received a call from Stan, Billy's brother down in Eugene Oregon of his passing which had just been discovered. From the phone call it sounded like Precious had been discovered having slipped away maybe while in his bed or on the sofa of his 5th wheel with his beloved "Even Williams" Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey near his side. Those who knew Precious hated this sweet spot of his and many of us did everything we could humanly do to separate him from this destructive relationship he had with the bottle. In the end as we all knew would happen, "Even Williams" won.
There will be many times that the memory of Precious will come back to me in love and laughter. My images of him late at night at the Bend Weasel Bash after we had all climbed into our tents and listening to his tall stories from his tent of his quote prison time and Sassy (Portland Weaselette) falling for the story from her tent 15 yards away, Saying "Goodnight" to John-Boy, and the rest of the "family", and finally to Precious. The rides we rode with him to Run 21, Portland Weasel Bash, Bend Weasel Bash, and all those rides between.
I remember the times when all of us would be talking about who knows who, and he would chime in "when will we start talking about me?" Of our teasing him and hearing him "whine "stopppppp", and we would all mimic him. The time at one of the Bend Weasel Bashes where I got pictures of him sleeping beside his tent with "caution" tape roped around him someone had so eloquently laid.
The Weasel BBQ at Sue's house where he had brought a birthday cake for someone who had a birthday that month. Weasel Dave's little boy was there that night and after eating dinner I saw the young boy eyeing the cake. I walked up and asked the boy if he wanted a piece of the cake and he nodded that he did. I then told him that he needed to ask the person who brought the cake if he could have a piece and he agreed. I pointed Billy out to the boy and confirmed he knew who I was talking about. I told him that guys name was "Precious" and he needed to go ask "Precious" if he could have a piece of cake. Well, I watched as the boy walked over to the other side of the fire pit and walk up to Billy, and I saw Billy lean over to listen. Billy then responded with a loud "what did you call me?", and EVERYONE busted a gut. Couldn't stop laughing that one off for most of the night.
It was last year or the year before he let his brother Stan ride his Sportster up to the Bend Weasel Bash while he rode his "new" Heritage. Billy was oh so protective and worried that Stan would not have a problem riding the bike since it had been a few years since Stan had ridden. That was Billy, always more than willing to come to your defense as well as stand in front of you in a confrontation or beside you at a time of need.
I also remember the two times over the last year he was admitted to Salem Hospital due to kidney failure because of his lifelong relationship with "Even Williams". Going in there alone and with friends, his friends, to tell him we cared about him, we loved him. We truly did want desperately to help him but knew that we could only do so much. How a small group of Weaselettes went in the last time and "cleaned" his 5th wheel from one end to the other. The stories were almost horrific. They cleaned the floors, toilets, sinks, chairs, sofa, bed, did all his laundry, dishes, everything. When he got home from the hospital he wanted so much to thank them more than he could. But that was not necessary, we all loved him.
Below are a few pictures of Billy.
Click on the Pictures to see a Larger view.
We will all miss you "Precious".