And after talking with Buddy recently, the above is just the barest tip of the iceberg of what people whom him e-mail has circulated to are going to do - he's had over 50 responses in less than a week since he first sent it.
Several of us old timers - Priscilla, Becky and her lovely 19-year-old daughter Kaye, Buddy, Billy Randall, and myself got together recently to visit Steve Aymett's and Buck Williams' barns. Afterwards, we had a three hour lunch, with a large part of our conversation centering around Mr. Erskine. There is so much more we can all do for him, even if you don't know this man, ask any trainer in west Tennessee about the Falls, and you'll be told folks just don't come any finer than Erskine is and Miss Ann was. They had many fine horses for years with the late Charlie Weddington...the ones I remember best are Miss Ann winning a plethora of ladies classes on a big, high headed, glorious chestnut gelding named SHAKER'S WIZARD, and Erskine taking home many, many blue ribbons on a headshaking bay 15.2 mare named THREAT'S AUTUMN DAWN. They were always very gracious winners...as well as having been equally, if not more so, gracious when they did not win.
The Falls were known and loved by Robin Edwards for more than 20 years. When asked about him, she said, "Mr. Falls is a true southern gentleman; he always had something nice to say whenever I saw him. And he was the most loving and devoted husband to Miss Ann."
Directionally dysfunctional as I am, after lunch, I followed Becky and Kaye to Shelbyville where we stopped at Dabora. We picked up a copy of World Champion's catalogue to send him, and got World Champion staff members Brenda Upton and Jane Bradford to sign it, as well as ourselves. Then Becky and I had a wonderful visit with Christy Howard Parsons, and that is when it hit me, that the first "Walk Down Memory Lane" should be about Mr. Erskine.
I have so many memories of Mr. Erskine and the late Miss Ann...all of them wonderful...in all the years I knew this couple, never once did I hear them say a single word derrogative about any one or anything in the industry...and positivity is always needed. They were among the jumpstarters and revitalizers of the great old Razorback Championship horse show, which sadly no longer is part of the circuit. That was always one of my favorite shows to go to for WHR, because besides being a great, great gathering of the finest of horses in the fall, there were so many delightful Arkansas people who made sure everyone felt completely at home...and the Falls' were certainly at the head of the welcome committee, along with other super people such as the late Joe Webb, Ruby Nell Moye, Mr. and Mrs. Harrell Brawner and son Eldridge, Bill and Barbara Brazel...and so many more.
In fact it was at the Razorback Championships, a 3 day showcase, that I first made acquaintance with the Falls. It must have been in like 1971 or 72, as I was either a freshman or sophomore in college at MTSU, occasionally writing for David Howard's then very new Walking Horse Report. At the last minute, David himself was unable to go to Little Rock and called and asked if I would cover the show - my very first time to do so at anything other than one night shows - in his stead. And of course I jumped at the chance. David made my airline, hotel, and rental car arrangements for me...and I was joyously headed to Little Rock. The Falls happened to be staying at the same hotel (as were the Mohons from Covington, TN) and between the Falls and the Mohons, they not only made sure I made it to and from Barton Coliseum without getting lost, and one family or the other invited me to every meal with them...kindnesses I never will forget.
My next trip to Little Rock came in 1974, when legendary trainer J. T. Leech, assistant trainer Ronnie Williams, and I put the nigh onto impossible to haul MY FAIR LADY in a two horse trailer, with bales and bales of hay behind her to prevent the kicking while being hauled synonymous with FAIR LADY, who'd just won her third consecutive 15.2 and Under Mare World Championship with Marianne Leech riding and reserve world title in the amateur mare division with myself in the irons, to Little Rock. I'd loved my first time at the show so much that I desperately wanted to show her there. The Falls were among the first to greet us on the when we arrived at the show grounds the day before the show, and the next day, just before show time, when my late, beloved father, Fred D. Coffee, showed up as a great surprise to me, the Falls made sure we had box seats. Back then, not many middle Tennesseeans came to Little Rock (although this soon changed), but the competition with AR and west TN, and Louisiana horses was tremendous.
The Falls were instrumental in getting some local television coverage for the show, and I was so very, very honored when they asked if I would mind being interviewed...and of course I was delighted to participate in anything to spread the word of Walking Horses. And of all the great shows MY FAIR LADY made for me, that was the very best of them, and we won the almost 20 horse Ladies Class (my first time to ever beat the virtually unbeatable Miss Dixie Parnell on her many times WC and WGC EBONY'S BEST CHANCE). Miss Ann was in the class on WIZARD, and she and Mr. Erskine were the first to congratulate us. There was a fantastic exhibitors party afterwards, and I remember dancing with Mr. Erskine and others and my Daddy and J. T. dancing with Miss Ann. We had a blast...to put it mildly.
Jackson, MS was not one of my personal favorite shows, but I always had a great time there because the Falls were there, as well as so many others I love dearly but did not get to see often, such as Jimmy, Bernice, and Randy Holloway, Jimmy Lackey, Udell and Jeanine Stubbs, Percy Moss, and of course the horse show regulars who went everywhere. Also, after I started working at WHR full time, one year I flew out in the winter to Little Rock for the Arkansas awards banquet. The Falls, such loving, caring people, escorted me to my room every time I went to it, to make sure I was safe. And when we all awoke Sunday morning after the banquet's end, it was too see Little Rock had received a tremendous amount of snow overnight. That meant I could not fly home until the next day...and because they were such caring and protective people (I was quite young then), the Falls, Joe Webb, and Ruby Nell Moye all stayed an extra night and until they knew I was able to get a flight back to TN and to the airport safely...again, kindnesses such as these one does not forget. And kindness was the personification of these great people.