Bobby Plymale was more than just his radio persona, Dick Shannon

Editor:

//

I read Barry Paschal's kind words for my daughter's dad, Bob Plymale, (Dick Shannon) in his April 22 column. Yes, few knew the country boy that she and I knew as "Bobby Plymale," and most here knew him as "Dick Shannon." He did make a great impact.

His funeral was a wonderful tribute to him and more like a celebrity roast on his behalf. He would have loved it and laughed his head off at all the funny stories told on his behalf, both in his work as a DJ and also in his love as an avid fisherman.

I knew him since 1981 and he was a kind-hearted, quick-witted, very smart and articulate man. He left this world all too soon, but he felt that even 60 was old. He never expected to live that long. He would have been 61 if he'd have made it to July 11th. It was not to be; he had become very obese, diabetic, had one kidney, three heart attacks and three strokes, and the last surgery was five bypasses. He never recovered.

My daughter was and still is very distraught, but somehow she has found comfort knowing just how much he was loved and admired by all here in Augusta, if only as Dick Shannon.

As she said in her eulogy (read by Harley Drew), "Most knew the radio persona of Dick Shannon, but there was so much more beneath the surface. He was a born entertainer." She knew the real man and the one called "Daddy."

He will be sorely missed by all. He became large in physique, lived large and left a very large impact on all. Of all his great accomplishments, the one he was most proud of was his little girl, Carla. I am proud to have been a part of that. As she said, "He will live in my heart forever."

Not many of us are fortunate enough to live in two worlds. He was.

Rhonda Jones

Evans