Later while visiting my Aunt and Uncle in Spruce Pine, my Aunt took me to Marion to go shopping.  I went to the record store and sure enough there was a Roy Orbison album!  I had saved some money for my visit and guess what I bought?  The album,“Lonely and Blue”, had a picture of Roy on it.  Now, for the first time, I knew what Roy Orbison looked like.  Just like “Only The Lonely”, I played it over and over.  My Aunt and Uncle were surely glad when I returned to Shelby and took my album with me.

 Toward the end of 1960 I bought another Roy Orbison record, “I’m Hurtin’”.  Early in 1961 I bought “Running Scared”.  None of the other records had made such an impact on me except “Only The Lonely”.  “Running Scared” was great and made me have cold chills every time I listened to it.  I went back to the record store and looked for more.  I found out something I didn’t know.  Roy had been on “Sun Records” before he was on “Monument”!  I bought a “Sun” album called “Rock House”.  To me it didn’t have the same Roy Orbison sound as the “Monument” records did.  But I liked it anyway.

 By now my Mother, Daddy, and sister were becoming Roy Orbison fans.  They really didn’t have a choice.  I remember one of my sister’s girlfriends telling me that every time she heard one of Roy’s songs she thought of me and before she saw a picture of him she thought he would look like me.

 I was so happy when I went to J & K Record Shop, and looked at the chart and “Running Scared” was #1.  The people at J & K were so nice to me.  They would save articles on Roy that came out in “Billboard” and would let me know when a new Roy Orbison record would come in.

 It was 1961. “Crying” was filling every part of my soul.  It would almost make you cry just listening to it.  By now I had started some small time dating, and with any dating things happen.  “Crying” seemed to be the answer to all dating problems.  It was the only record that could make you feel like someone else knew how you felt.  Roy Orbison just had to know.  “Crying” reached #2 and the back side, “Candy Man reached #25 in 1961.  Also, in 1961 we had a new edition to the family, another “little sister”, and a new Roy Orbison album, “Crying”.  By 1962 I had my baby sister bouncing in her little walker to “Dream Baby”.  “The Crowd”, “Leah”, and “Working for the Man” were all hits of 1962.  I also got my driver’s license, and a new album called “Roy Orbison’s Greatest Hits”!  What a year!

 By 1963 not only did the people at J & K Record Shop think I was part of their shop, but I was also a frequent visitor at WOHS Radio Station.  Since I had a job and a car I could make lots of visits to WOHS to see if a new Roy Orbison record had come in.  Sure enough, one day while I was at WOHS, a new Roy Orbison record arrived.  “Falling” was played on the air for the first time while I watched and listened to it.

 In 1964 when I was a Senior at Shelby High School, “Oh, Pretty Woman” was on its way to becoming Roy’s biggest hit.  My public speaking class assignment was to select a person and give a speech on them.  So I introduced Roy Orbison to my Senior Class in public speaking, and I got an “A” for my report.  In my high school annual some of my friends even made comments about Roy.  To put something about Roy Orbison in my annual made me very proud.

 In 1965 I got a job at PPG Industries and got married.  Roy went from “Monument” to “MGM”.  A new era of music was now on my stereo.  By 1967 I was a father...another “new” person to tell and teach about Roy.  No, I didn’t name my son Roy, but the thought did cross my mind.  He was named after me.  I later learned that in 1966 Roy’s wife, Claudette, had been killed in a motorcycle accident, and two years later, two of his sons died in a house fire.

 MGM not only brought new Roy Orbison music, but a movie called “The Fastest Guitar Alive”.  So now I could see Roy sing and act in a movie, just like Elvis!  During the 1970’s I had two more sons to introduce to Roy.  After being promoted at PPG, I introduced Roy Orbison to my fellow workers during a commumications class.  I brought a tape recorder and let them listen to his great voice range.  They were very impressed.

 In the late 70’s I didn’t hear much about Roy, but I kept trying to get any record that he had released.  I would even go to flea markets and go through records and tapes to try to find a record or tape by Roy Orbison.  Sometimes I got lucky and found records that had not made it big.  I remember one of the biggest thrills was when I got an eight-track tape player for my car and could hear Roy anytime I wanted.  I loved it!  Roy Orbison was born April 23, 1936, and in April of 1978 or 1979 I couldn’t let his birthday go by without carrying out an idea I had.  I wrote some notes about Roy and went to both local radio stations, WOHS-WXIK FM and WADA AM, and told the people in Shelby about Roy Orbison.

 In August of 1980 my marriage ended, and I was left with three wonderful sons to raise.  Yes, I got out all the old Roy records and played each one.  After the divorce I could only think of one song, “It’s Over”.  But things were far from being over.  I didn’t know it at the time, but guess who was in Shelby?  Roy Orbison and his wife Barbara was here to make a soundtrack for local Earl Owensby’s movie, “Living Legend”.  Being so caught up in my marriage problems I had missed Roy’s visit.  Just think, Roy was in Shelby and I missed him.  I was sick.  I felt like I had missed my chance of a lifetime.

 After a couple years of being a single parent and “dating” again, I met a wonderful girl.  Susan loved hearing Roy Orbison sing.  We were married in 1983.  While my sons were introducing her to Alice Cooper, Kiss, Sammy Hagar, and other rock artists, she was trying to listen to “country music”, and I was still keeping up with Roy.  So music in our house really had a wide range.  I would listen to her Hank Jr. and she would listen to Roy.  The boys had discovered ear phones to listen to their “rock” as loud as they wanted to.  My record collection was now getting larger, twenty-five albums, and I was even a bigger Roy Orbison fan than I ever was.

 I was starting to hear more and more about Roy, I taped several interviews he had on TV and saw him on the “Farm Aid” benefit.  I was thrilled to be able to see him again.  Roy was on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”.  “In Dreams” was used in a movie, and he re-released some of his songs on “In Dreams: The Greatest Hits”.  In one interview Roy said he was working on a new album!  I couldn’t believe it.  I went to Carousel Records, a new record shop, since J & K had closed down several years ago, to see if they had received any information on the album.  Of course they had not, as Roy had just announced it.  The best TV special was on Cinemax, “Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night”.  What I would give to have been in that audience watching Roy Orbison!! A lifelong fantasy.

 In March or April 1988 a friend of ours heard over the radio that Roy Orbison was going to be at Chastain Park in Atlanta, Georgia.  Well!  We immediatly got on the phone and called Atlanta.  It was confirmed that Roy was scheduled to appear May 20, 1988.  After ordering tickets, I stood at the mail box every day.  Finally they arrived!  I couldn’t believe it.  I was holding tickets in my hand that had Roy Orbison’s name on them!!!

 At long last Roy Orbison was scheduled to appear somewhere close.  On May 20, 1988, Roy would be at Chastain Park; Susan and I would be there too.  Was this a dream about to come true after twenty-eight years?  Finally the time was here to go to Atlanta and see Roy Orbison.  The trip takes about four hours, so we listened to Roy’s tapes all the way there.  We went down early to make sure we could find Chastain Park and to get a motel room for the night.

 The crowd at Chastain Park was filled with excitement.  Roy Orbison was on stage.  The crowd was now quiet.  The amphi-theater was filled with the sound of “Only The Lonely”, then “Leah”, “In Dreams”, and after “Crying”, Roy received a standing ovation.  He did “Crying” again.  It is difficult to put into words the way I felt.  After more songs, the drums started the beat of “Oh, Pretty Woman”.  Everyone in Chastain Park was standing, clapping in time with the drums.  Roy finished with “Running Scared”.  Again, Chastain Park was filled with a standing ovation.  To see the man who Elvis once called “the greatest singer in the world”; the man who aced out Ringo Starr for “Top Personality of the Year” in 1964; the man who recorded “Oh, Pretty Woman” was spine chilling.  This was Roy Orbison , a living legend.

 After the concert, the crowd thinned.  Susan and I went to the side of the park to see if we could get a look at Roy, only to find several other people trying to get inside.  The guards at Chastain Park did their job.  No one got in to see him.  After the other fans left, we walked around to the front of the stage.  The road crew was taking down the lights and speakers.  Susan asked a girl on stage, Robyn Blocker, if Roy had left.  She said he had not, and we could see him if we would wait.  We talked to Robyn and to Roy’s chauffeur.  Then there he was!  Roy Orbison was walking towards me!  I walked over to shake the hand of the man I had waited twenty-eight years to see perform.  Susan came over to shake his hand and to tell him she was “shaking all over”.  Roy talked to us and held Susan’s hand, as if to calm her.  I told Roy about my “Roy Orbison record collection” and asked when his new album was to be released.  Roy said, “It will be out in a few months.  I’m on my way back to L.A. to finish it”.  Susan told him how much we loved the Cinemax special, “A Black and White Night”.  There we were, just talking with Roy Orbison!  His limousine was running, but he wasn’t in a hurry.  I asked him about the cross he wears, and he said that it was a “Maltese Cross”.  He said his wife had just bought this one for him because someone had stolen his other one.  Susan took pictures of Roy and me, and the chauffeur took a picture of all three of us.  This was the nicest, most soft-spoken man you could ever meet.  We shook hands again and said “good-bye”.  Roy got in his limousine and was gone.  My dream had indeed come true.

 On the way to Hickory one afternoon to buy a new sofa, (you know how a new wife in the house must have new furniture) my son, Tim, was scanning the radio, and we heard a song that sounded like Roy’s voice.  The song was “Handle With Care”, and the name of the group was The Traveling Wilburys.  The next day I went to the record store to see what was going on.  Sure enough, they had an album titled “The Traveling Wilburys Volume One”.  On the front of the album cover was Roy Orbison.  I bought the album and hurried home to listen to it.  I couldn’t believe it!  Roy was one of The Traveling Wilburys.  I read the inside jacket, but no where did it have his name or the names of the other artists.  Roy’s name on the album was “Lefty Wilbury”.  The other artists were: George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynn, and Bob Dylan.  The album was great!  Roy even had on song he did solo, “Not Alone Anymore”.  This was in October 1988.  By November, the album was well up on the charts and “Handle With Care” was not only moving up on the charts but there was also a video on MTV!  I was very excited.  I could watch MTV and know that I had met and talked with Roy Orbison.

 A friend of mine who works at The Shelby Star, Joe DePriest, is also a Roy Orbison fan.  We talked about my visit to Atlanta and meeting Roy.  Joe was also very excited about The Traveling Wilburys album.  Joe had met Roy when he was in Shelby making the soundtrack for the movie, “Living Legend”, and published several articles in The Shelby Star about Roy and Barbara’s visit to Shelby.  It was good to talk to someone else who had met Roy.  Joe had pictures of Roy, Barbara, and Earl Owensby, at Earl’s studio.  It was a good feeling to be able to look at the record charts again and see something that Roy had a part in.  When people at work started talking about The Traveling Wilburys, I just had to bring my pictures back and let people see them.  Sherry Barrett, a friend of ours, saved Rolling Stone Magazine articles on The Traveling Wilburys.  The album even got four stars, out of a possible five.

 It was the last day on the 4:00 P.M. to midnight shift, December 6, 1988.  I got home around 1:00 A.M., took a bath, and instead of watching TV, I went to bed.  Susan woke me around 7:30 A.M., crying.  I opened my eyes to look at her, and she said, “I have some bad news, Roy Orbison is dead!”  I couldn’t understand what she had just said.  She repeated it.  Susan said that my Mother had called and broke the news to her.  She also said that a girl who works for me had called, and Joe DePriest had called and wanted me to call him back.  I was numb all over.  The TV was on, and the news announcer was telling about Roy.  I couldn’t talk, only listen to the tragic news.  I could feel my eyes starting to water.  I couldn’t swallow.  After a few minutes of silence Susan told me how sorry she was.  She could tell that I was hurt.  A part of me had also died.  I called Joe at The Shelby Star, and he said he wanted to interview me for an article he was going to put in the newspaper.  I talked to Joe for a while.  We talked about Roy’s music and what a loss his death would be for all of us.  This morning I received a lot of phone calls, some from people I hadn’t talked to in a long time.  Robyn Blocker called me from Huntsville, Alabama.  If it hadn’t been for Robyn, I would have never gotten to meet Roy.  Robyn was also very upset, and we could hardly talk to each other. Roy Orbison was dead.  It seemed like a member of my family, a best friend, and a part of me had all died at the same time.  I looked at all my Roy Orbison records.  I couldn’t listen to them, only look.  My mind went back to the time I bought each one.  The memories, happy and sad.  Roy was gone.  I went to The Shelby Star to talk to Joe.  Joe said Earl Owensby had called him and he called me.  We agreed to pass any articles to each other on Roy’s death we could find.  I made Joe some tapes of some of Roy’s albums that he didn’t have.  For days I collected articles on Roy.  This was the kind of collecting I didn’t like.  To read about the man I had followed for so long, finally to meet, and now he was dead.  It was an honor to read Joe’s article and see my name mentioned with Roy Orbison.

 On January 13, 1989, I was in the shower and Susan was beating on the door, “Hurry, Roy Orbison’s new song is on the radio”.  Out I came, dripping wet.  I turned up the radio to hear, “You Got It”.  Susan said a girl who works for me had called to tell me it was on the radio.  After it was over I called the radio station in Charlotte.  It was the single from his album, the one I talked to him about, “Mystery Girl”.  The album wasn’t due out until February.  I talked to the announcer about meeting Roy.  A little later, she played our conversation back over the air, and Roy’s song “You Got It”.  Finally, Mystery Girl was released.  By February 2, 1989, I was playing Mystery Girl on my stereo.  Roy may be gone, but his music and his memory will live in me for as long as I live.  I am so thankful to have met this incredible, but gentle, man.  I’ll miss you Roy.
 
 

     PART 2

 March 14, 1989, brought another tragedy to my life.  My mother, Myrtle Hughes, passed away.  She was also a fan of Roy’s.  She was the one who called that day to tell us that Roy had died.  Now she was gone too.  I had made several tapes of Roy’s music for her.  She had been listening to Mystery Girl the most.  All during this time I could only listen to one song, “The Only One” from Mystery Girl.  Listen to the words and you will know why.  Again, here was another one of Roy’s songs that just seem to fit.  After the funeral I was looking around my mother’s house.  In the den was a small radio-tape player.  Inside the tape player was Mystery Girl.  I asked my Father if he had been listening to it, and he said “no, your Mother had been playing it”.  The tape stayed in the tape player for over three years.

 After I wrote the first part of this article, I saw an ad in a music magazine for anyone wanting to subscribe to “In Dreams”, a Roy Orbison magazine.  I wrote a letter to the editor, Burt Kaufman, in Oakland, California.  I also sent him a copy of this article.  Burt wrote me back and said he would like to publish my article in “In Dreams”!  I was very excited about this.  Something I wrote about Roy was going to be in a Roy Orbison magazine!  The article appeared in Volume 1, Issue 5, Winter 1990.  Soon after the article  appeared in the “In Dreams” magazine, I received a phone call from Charlotte Bohacheff.  She wanted to tell me how much she enjoyed the article.  We talked for a long time, and I could tell she was a big fan of Roy’s.  Charlotte is a collector, and she had lots of Roy’s albums, tapes, and CD’s.  It sure felt good talking to someone who had such love for Roy and his music.  Charlotte was able to help me get a lot of Roy’s music on CD’s.  We talked on the phone and wrote letters to each other often.

 I sent Burt more of the articles and photos that I had so he could publish them in the magazine “In Dreams”.  I even had a personalized car tag made for my car, O-R-B-I-S-O-N.  I knew I was the only one in North Carolina to have a tag like this!  It makes me proud to have Roy’s name on my car.  I get a lot of comments about it.

 My Shelby High School 25th year class reunion was held on July 28, 1990.  One of my classmates, Barbara McKay, was at the reunion.  She works at television station WBTV in Charlotte, N.C.  While talking to her she noticed the Maltese Cross I was wearing.  My cross is a lot smaller that the one Roy wore.  I told her about the cross and about meeting Roy Orbison in Atlanta.  She was very interested in my story.  She said that one of her co-workers, C.J. Underwood, might be interested in it too.  C.J. hosts a weekly TV show called “Carolina Camera”.  This show is about people of interest in the Carolinas and is aired during the 6:00 P.M. newscast.  Barbara took down my phone number and told me she would talk to C.J. about my Roy Orbison collection.

 In October C.J. Underwood called me!  I was so excited talking to him about Roy.  He said he would like to come to our house and do a “Carolina Camera” episode about me and Susan meeting Roy and my Roy Orbison collection.  He said he would call me later and set up a date to do the interview.  In November we always go the beach for a few days, kind of an anniversary present to each other.  Susan and I had talked to Charlotte Bohacheff and made plans to visit her in Columbia, South Carolina on our way back from the beach.  Before we left to go the beach, C.J. Underwood, from WBTV, called and wanted to set up a time for him and his camera man to come to our house for an interview.  We told him we were going to the beach and when we would be back.  He said he would call us when we returned.

 We went to the beach, but all we could talk about was meeting Charlotte and maybe being on Carolina Camera.  On the way back we stopped in Columbia and called Charlotte Bohacheff.  She met us, and we followed her back to her house.  Charlotte is one of the nicest people you could ever meet.  When we got to her house I couldn’t believe all the Roy Orbison albums and “stuff” she had!  It thrilled me beyond words.  Charlotte let me look at all the Roy Orbison collection.  I thought I had a lot, but this was unreal!  We talked a lot about Roy and her collection, and she took us out to dinner.  It was a very enjoyable time.  We told her about C.J. and maybe being on TV to talk about our meeting with Roy.  Charlotte was very happy for us and helped me pick out some posters that we could display.  I also got some albums that I didn’t have.  We really enjoyed meeting Charlotte.  We had corresponded for so long we felt like we already knew her.  It was getting late, and we headed back to Shelby.

 The day after we got back home C.J. called us, and set up THE DATE for the Carolina Camera episode.  It is hard to describe the excitement we felt.  Not only being on TV, but getting to tell everyone about meeting Roy Orbison!  The date was to be November 29, 1990, my Mother’s birthday.  It seemed ironic that this was the day.  That morning Susan and I went to the cemetery.  It is hard to say what we felt.  Roy was gone and now Mother.  I know they are together.

 When we got back home, we just had to CLEAN THE HOUSE!    After all you’re not on TV everyday!  Robert, Tim, and Daniel, our three sons, were all joining in the fun.  We cleaned everything as if the camera would be in every spot in our house.  Then came the pacing, wondering if C.J. could find us.  “Does the house look all right?” Pacing.  “Is my hair O.K.?”  Pacing. “What do you think of what I am wearing?”  Pacing. “What do we say?”  Pacing.  Then a white van pulled up in the driveway.  Is this C.J.?  Yes!  We went out to meet him.  Nervous?  You bet!  We introduced ourselves to C.J. and to his camera man, George.  They came into the house, and we started talking.  I kept trying to remember that Susan told me they were here to do a Carolina Camera episode, not a documentary.  But I had so much to tell C.J.

 After we talked a while C.J. had put us at ease.  He was a very nice person.  I guess he knew what we were feeling and just talked to us like he had known us for some time.  This really helped.  I showed him my Roy Orbison albums, tapes, CD’s and the pictures of Roy and us.  He was very interested in it all.  In the basement, where the jukebox is, we played some of Roy’s songs.  This is where they started the interview.  All three of our sons were watching while they did the interview.  I believe they liked seeing us so nervous.  I think I was more nervous than Susan.  Tim had made a wall display of Roy’s albums, posters, and the hat I had gotten when we met Roy.  C.J. talked to us as we set around the jukebox listening to Roy, and George was filming.  We talked a while there and went back up to the den.  I showed him all I had about Roy; George was still filming.  We talked about the thrill of meeting Roy Orbison.  C.J. and George were at our house for over 2 hours filming different things and looking at a Roy concert I had.  All of this was very exciting.  I can’t begin to explain how happy I was to pay my tribute to Roy Orbison.  I told C.J. that I would like to pick the ending for the episode.  He was open for suggestions.  I picked the ending of the concert we had watched, “Roy Orbison-live in Houston Texas”.  It shows Roy singing Running Scared. At the end Roy makes an encore and at the last note, he fades from live to a sketched drawing.  C.J. liked this and said he would try to use it in the episode.  I also showed him the “In Dreams” magazine and he told George to get it on film.  By the end of the afternoon C.J. and George were fans of Roy’s.  C.J. was one of the nicest people you could meet.  WBTV sure had the right man for the job.  To see C.J. on TV almost every day and to get to meet him in our house was quite an experience.  When we had finished the interview, we all went outside to tell C.J. and George good-bye.  By now it seemed as if we had known each other a long time.  C.J. told us he would call us and let us know when we would be on TV.  The white van drove off.  We had done it!

 On December 5, 1990, the phone rang.  It was C.J. calling to let us know our Carolina Camera episode would be on that night.  We were all excited!  Who do we call?  Well, we called all our family, friends, and just about anybody we could think of.  I got some blank tapes to put in both VCRs and set them up on record.  I wasn’t going to take a chance of missing this.  Our next door neighbors, Ron and Judy, came down to watch it with us.  Here we were, nervous again!  We were all in front of the TV just like we had never seen a TV before.  The phone rang again.  It was C.J. to make sure we were watching.  I can’t believe how concerned he was.  We waited and watched, watched and waited.  Then Sara James, the news anchor woman said, “Move over Elvis fans.  There is a Shelby man that says there is another star that could sing Elvis right out of his blue suede shoes, and C.J. and the Carolina Camera bring us the story”.  We heard the sounds of the drums to “Oh, Pretty Woman” and there we were on TV!  The interview was great.  C.J. had done a remarkable job.  We were on TV telling thousands and thousands of people in both Carolinas about Roy Orbison and getting to meet him.  C.J. made mention of the “In Dreams” magazine.  He also noted that December 6 was the second anniversary of the death of Roy Orbison.

 After it was over, the phone was ringing again.  Our family and friends were calling to tell us how much they enjoyed the Carolina Camera interview.  Yes, C.J. called back to see how we liked it.  I didn’t expect him to call us back.  That was very nice of him.  Everyone who called had good things to say about the interview.  I got the tapes out of the VCR, and we watched it again and again and again.  I couldn’t believe it.  I was so proud to be able to tell so many people about Roy Orbison.  The next day WBTV showed it again on a show called “Top O’ The Day”.  When I got to work, a lot of the people I work with had seen the show.  They all loved it.  Susan had people calling her to tell her they liked it.  This was “something else” to have experienced.  I made a copy of the Carolina Camera episode and sent it to Burt and Charlotte.  They had a lot to do with making it all possible.  I also sent a copy to Barbara Orbison.

 This was another dream come true.  I just know Roy would have liked it.  After all he has given me through his music all these years and the kindness he showed us when we met him, this was the least I could do.  This was my greatest tribute to a great man.  It makes me very proud to be able to say that I made a tribute to Roy Orbison.  I listen to his music EVERY DAY and still love him just like when I was 13 years old.  Roy Orbison, you will never be forgotten as long as I live.
 

                                                 
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