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Sat 19 Apr 2008 10:14
by Kevin McGehee
60° and cloudy
in Coweta County, GA
[Alaska]
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The drive along Alaska’s George Parks Highway (Route 3, for those with maps) includes a sight that has provoked snickers for years: Skinny Dick’s Halfway Inn, a store, cafe and watering hole just about halfway between Fairbanks and Nenana. Last I heard it was still in business (confirmed!), owned by someone not all that much younger than its founder.
Anyway, said founder has moved on to the Last Frontier in the Sky:
In death as in life, Richard “Skinny Dick” Hiland was the life of the party.
At a well-attended wake Friday at the International Bar and Grill, one of Skinny Dick’s favorite haunts when he was on “a runaway” from tending bar at his own place, “Skinny Dick’s Halfway Inn,“ glasses were raised time after time in the legendary barkeep’s honor.
Mourners only had to cross the street following an afternoon funeral Mass at Immaculate Conception Church and crowd into the Big I’s dark, smoky interior to share stories, food and Skinny Dick’s favorite toast, “Happy, happy!“
Skinny Dick, who died April 7 at age 80 after a short illness, sold the Halfway Inn in 2003, but remains very much alive in the memories and hearts of his many friends and relatives.
Although he was known for his rude jokes, cussin’ and carousing, Skinny Dick’s large circle of friends say it was balanced by his upbeat, fun-loving temperament, storytelling and openhandedness.
“He was quite a character,“ Jeana Apling said. “He could tell stories like no one else.“ » Friends, family mourn local legend Richard “Skinny Dick” Hiland
Sounds like just the right send-off for an “all the way” kind of guy.
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