Joe Berry was one of those people who was always there and then he wasn't! I grew up with him living in the two storey farmhouse opposite ours. We saw him almost every time we were playing outside. Joe, a farmer would wave as he walked back and forwards between field and farm and house. Always with his tobacco pipe hanging from his lips, which he would remove to shout 'hello' and then pop it straight back in. When I moved away from my childhood home, to go to university I never really thought of Joe until I discovered 'Lapsang Souchong' tea. It's smoky aroma always brought me straight back home to the familiar smell of burning tobacco coming from Joe's pipe.
As was mentioned at Joe's funeral a number of times, he was a quiet and likeable man. Having over 300 people at his funeral said volumes for his presence in the community. So I raise a cup of Lapsang in memory of this dear man and I hope I will see him again one day on the other side.
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