[Dialogue] One Last Party for Molly

[Harry Wainwright]

Published on Monday, February 5, 2007 by the Austin American-Statesman
<http://www.statesman.com/news>  (Texas) 

One Last Party for Molly
Friends celebrate columnist's life with upbeat memorial service, then a trip
to Scholz Garten.



by Patrick George

 

Molly Ivins, the columnist renowned for her Texas-size wit and her penchant
for skewering the powerful on behalf of the little guy, was remembered
Sunday by her friends and family in the way they said would suit her best:
by throwing a huge party. 

Hundreds gathered Sunday afternoon at First United Methodist Church in
downtown Austin for Ivins' memorial service, which was less a funeral and
more a celebration of her life and work.

Her brother, Andy Ivins, remembered her reply when he once asked her why she
always walked so fast.

"She said, 'When you look up at the horizon, it makes you go quicker,' "
Andy Ivins said. "I really think she did that her whole life."

Ivins died Wednesday at age 62 after a long battle with breast cancer. But
there was more laughter than tears as people stepped to the microphone to
share their favorite stories.

Her friend Linda Lewis brought the crowd to their feet when she shared a
quip from one of Ivins' columns: "The next time I tell you someone from
Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention."

Lou Dubose, who worked with Ivins on two books, said she was unparalleled
among American journalists for the community of readers she created.

"Molly didn't have readers; she had a constituency," Dubose said. "She was
such a sucker for the little guy who stood up against the bullies and the
bastards."

Dubose recalled that being severely weakened by cancer didn't slow Ivins
down.

Several weeks ago, "with her voice subdued, she was grilling (a state
representative) about the Democrats who flipped and made Craddick the
speaker," Dubose said, referring to House Speaker Tom Craddick's victory
over a challenger to his post.

In keeping with Ivins' passion for life and reputation as someone who loved
a good party, her friends and family headed to Scholz Garten for beer and
barbecue after the service. There, dozens of signs bore phrases like "We are
the deciders," "Raise Hell" and "Stop the War," references to Ivins' last
column.

In that column, Ivins decried the planned troop surge in Iraq and said that
if Americans are against it, they need to get "in the streets, banging pots
and pans and demanding, 'Stop it, now!' " Outside Scholz Garten, about 40
people did just that.

"A friend of mine sent me a link to her last article," said Terry Adcock, an
Austinite who carried a pot and a wooden spoon. "I said, 'I'm going to
Scholz, and I'll bang my pot for Molly.' "

Ivins wrote for several newspapers, including the Minneapolis Tribune, the
Texas Observer, The New York Times and the Dallas Times-Herald. In 2001, she
went independent and wrote her column for Creators Syndicate, to which more
than 400 newspapers subscribed.

At Scholz Garten, more than 300 people arrived to trade more stories about
Ivins and listen to music. Many sported armbands fashioned from duct tape
with the letters WWMD, which they said meant "What Would Molly Do?" as well
as "What Weapons of Mass Destruction?"

"When we planned this, we decided that this (party) would be more Molly,"
said Kaye Northcott, a close friend of Ivins' and former Observer editor.
"It's a whole lot of good stories and music, and no crying."

Ivins wouldn't want crying. She was legendary for maintaining her sense of
humor regardless of the circumstances, friends said.

"She was a passionate voice for social justice, but she kept her sense of
humor always," said Scott McCown, executive director of the Center for
Public Policy Priorities. "It's really easy to let the struggle get
depressing, but she kept it funny."

Billy Porterfield, a former columnist for the American-Statesman and other
publications, shared a memory of when he and Ivins encountered the Harlem
Globetrotters outside a bar when they both worked at the Dallas
Times-Herald.

"She was a good-looking woman, and one of them walked up behind her and
pinched her bottom," Porterfield said. "But she thought I did it, so she
turned around and punched me."

Added Porterfield: "She knocked out two of my teeth. I never had them
replaced, because it was such a good story." 

 

Copyright 2001-2007 Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P. 

###

 

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