On Monday morning some of the students, other paras and I watched from our classroom window the smoke and steam rise from the fire at the old Seaway Hotel. We didn’t know what was burning at the time but it made an impressive cloud. I later learned it was the old hotel, now vacant and scheduled to be demolished.
I had been at the Seaway Hotel, back when it was housing for low-income folks, many of them seniors. Members of my congregation sometimes brought hot meals and served them in the front lobby for the residents. Back in 2014 Deb Holman, an outreach worker for Chum, called me to help lead a funeral there for Marvin, one of the residents.
I went to the Seaway with Deb a few days before the funeral to get to know some of Marvin’s friends and listen to their stories about him. They had lots of stories. They talked about his love for his dog, Sue Sue, a Scotty who he loved so much he had her nails painted at a salon up at the mall. Sue Sue loved Marvin so much that she stayed by his body for the several days before he was found, not barking, but just laying close beside him.
There were other stories like how he loved Western movies and his work as a tanner in Milwaukee. He also owned a candy shop there for awhile. There were stories about how he loved to travel. He had lived in Chicago, Seattle and the Twin Cities. Marvin came to Duluth just that last July to be near a foster sister. He lived at the Chum Shelter for awhile before getting into the Seaway.
Everyone seemed to know how much he loved blues music, especially BB King. His son mentioned that too when I called him. His son also noted that his father wasn’t really a religious man, but he did love Jesus. There was a ceramic sculpture of praying hands found in his room. Marvin’s best friend, Don, told me that Marvin was trying to make some changes and that he liked that Don was praying for him. Don also added, at the end of our conversation, that Marvin really loved the blues.
The evening of the funeral which was also in the lobby of the Seaway, I brought a boom box and played a BB King song, Blues Man. I had found a used CD at the Electric Fetus for 5 bucks. The lyrics are:
The burdens that I carry are so heavy, you see
It seems like it ain’t nobody in this great big world
That would wanna help old B.
But I will be all right, people
Just give me a break
Good things come to those who wait
And I’ve waited a long time
I’m a blues man but a good man, understand
The Seaway Hotel is gone now from a fire started possibly by people just looking for a place to be warm, other blues men and women. Let’s give one another a break, and maybe offer up a few prayers. For after all, aren’t we all just improvising? Blues man but a good man, understand.
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