The 30th Anniversary of Papaw's Death

DEDICATED TO BURLEY R. JOHNSON (1923-1994) WHO DIED 30 YEARS AGO TODAY ON AUGUST 3, 1994.

Almost fifty-three years ago, I became your grandson.

You died 30 years ago today at the age of seventy-one.

You became sick when a doctor prescribed you some Dilantin.

The allergy ended your life and we would never see you again.

Your death hurt others as well as me.

Your body was in such a bad shape that you had a closed casket ceremony.

The Dilantin was what made your body end up in such a bad shape.

When you perished, almost two hundred people attended your wake.

You lived in Sneedville but passed away in a hospital in Morristown.
It was a sad day thirty years ago when we buried you in the ground.