"The Day the Music Died" - May 14, 2008
These are the words that Bryant Saxon chose to print on the back of the funeral obituary program for his father, Ben Saxon. Perfect words to encompass the spirit of the founder of our Birmingham Record Collectors family. Robert Benjamin Saxon, Jr. passed away last Wednesday, May the 14th. Ben was recovering from hip surgery after a fall a few weeks ago when he was rushed to the hospital last Sunday with chest pains from which he could not recover.
Our beloved friend, our music mentor, our dedicated leader - is now at peace in Heaven. As our president Charlie Bailey said, Ben entered Heaven's door asking, "Okay, now, where's Buddy Holly?" Ben LOVED music, Ben lived music, Ben shared music, Ben inspired us to love music. If there ever was a BRC member who exemplified our BRC club motto - "...devoted to the collecting of music, its preservation, and lasting friendships", it had to be Ben. He was as enthusiastic about his music and sharing it with others as much last week as he was 27 years ago when he and a handful of friends founded BRC. Ben loved the sharing part - making CD's for us all, finding records for others, filling friends' computer hard drives with music, telling stories about his favorite songs, honoring the local artists with our Hall of Fame, doing each and every BRC weekly internet radio show, and seeing happy music lovers at each year's annual BRC Record Show.
Ben was a witnessing Chistian (10 emails a day!), a proud and loving family man, a dedicated and smart salesman, a devout Alabama Roll Tide fan (and graduate), a devoted and respected alumni of Bessemer High School (class of '63), and an instant friend to anyone he bumped into. Ben had friends from all walks of life - and he truly cherished his friends.
Each and every one of us - your precious friends - will miss you, Ben, every time we hear a 'special' song - one that you taught us to truly listen to, to feel, to embelish, to appreciate, and to cherish it with our heart. We will realize each of these times that when we lost you, dear Ben, is "when the music died..."