The ranks of those with a direct first person link to Hank Williams was greatly diminished with the death of Braxton Schuffert a native of Prattville Alabama. He was 97.
From all reports he was a delightful man who was a very close personal friend to Hank in the early years and acted as a pallbearer at Hank’s funeral. No bigger honor than that.
They first met when Hank was 15 and Schuffert, who was already on radio despite his youth, helped Hank get on the local radio station. He was at Hank’s first ever show and played in his band for a number of years in the late 30’s and early 40’s. When the success came, Schuffert decided not to leave a job in Alabama and join Hank on the road.
In later years he was very generous in sharing his memories with Hank fans.
Braxton was a pretty sweet traditional country singer in his own right as you can hear here:
And here’s Braxton with some memories and music from a Montgomery Advertiser Video recorded a year ago when he was 96!
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/videonetwork/2333333400001?odyssey=mod|tvideo|article
Braxton was a warm wonderful person and he will be missed!