DAVID BASS WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE MOST LAID BACK PEOPLE THAT EVER DREW A BREATH.ONE TIME HE TOLD ME THAT HE DIDN’T HAVE A DRIVERS LICENSE BECAUSE HE DIDN’T NEED ONE BECAUSE HE NEVER LEFT PALM VALLEY.HE WAS AFFECTIONATELY NAMED THE UNOFFICIAL MAYOR OF PALM VALLEY.COOTER BROWN WAS ANOTHER ONE OF HIS HANDLES.YOU COULD SEE HIM CASUALLY STROLLING ALONG THE ROAD OR LEANING ON THE RAILING OF THE OLD COMMUNITY CENTER..KNOWN TO HOIST A BEER AT THE FISH CAMP ,NORMA’S OR THE BIG CYPRESS LIKE MOST OF US DID ON OCCASION.HIS SALVAGE YARD SEEMED TO KEEP HIM WELL FED AND HAPPY.DAVID EVEN HAD A CAMEO APPEARANCE IN A MOVIE AT EDDIE FEAS’S FISH CAMP WHICH EDDIE RENAMED AFTER THE MOVIE ‘S NAME FOR IT WHEN USED AS A SET DUBBED IT THE BLUE MOON SALOON.
HIS PASSING WAS A GREAT LOSS FOR US ALL BUT HIS SOFT CASUAL SPIRIT STILL WHISPERS AS ONE DRIVES ALONG CANAL BLVD ON A SLEEPY SUMMER DAY….TERRIFIC SENSE OF HUMOR THAT GUY..ALWAYS WONDERED IF HE WAS JUST PUTTING ME ON.ABOUT THAT LICENSE THING
WERT THE SINGING SOUL OF PALM VALLEY by Jim Hayes
Anonymous Jun 24, 9:55 PM EDT Watch One day as I was talking to my nephew I heard this voice singing high and loud and asked him who that was and he said oh thats wert we call him wild man...any how he rode by on a bicycle singing with all his heart and not a care in the world.and on down the road .one day some time later i was fishing off a dock at the end of that same road..canal blvd ... and up came wert he had a propeller mounted on his handlebars and I asked him why.and he said it makes it go faster...not being an aeronautical engineer i could not fault his reasoning and will not today.. i asked him how he could sing with such joy and abandon and he said it just made him feel good so why not do it.i asked him to sing a song for me and he sat on a piling and belted out a beautiful totally unfettered song to me.....i told him i was happy i had the opportunity to meet him and got in my car and drove away with a warm glow inside thinking how wonderful it is to have someone like that around...they say he would sing at two in the morning sometimes and i thought to myself i wouldnt mind like the sentry or sailor..ding ding 2 o clock and all is well....that young man was killed by a drunk driver one night while riding down the road ...but like john denver and annies song this young man is a saint to me and always will be ....he lived on wilderness trail in palm valley...not a voice crying in the wilderness but a voice singing instead..like a new thing coming...leaving old behind