Faithful Say Farewell To Skynyrd Bassist

JACKSONVILLE -- Lynyrd Skynyrd fans joined long-time friends and at a public memorial service this morning for "the Babe Ruth of Bass Players" -- band member Leon Wilkeson.

"We've lost a comrade," one speaker said.

The 200 people gathered heard tributes to the man, and anecdotes from the his life as one of the original members of one of America's most enduring Southern Rock bands.

"I love Leon Wilkeson -- the man, the musician, the father, the brother, the son," Skynyrd drummer Artemus Pyle said. "I don't think anyone realized how great ... a human being Leon was, until we lost him."

Recalling his great sense of humor, Pyle said that HBO missed out when they didn't offer Wilkeson a comedy special. He said that if the 49-year-old musician could say something now, it would probably be: "I never had to see the big five-oh.'"

Recalling the 1977 airplane crash that killed three Lynyrd Skynyrd band members, Pyle said: "It's not living in the past, it's honoring their lives." He said that he would to try to complete a project that Wilkeson began: a CD tribute to Alan Collins, who died of complications from an automobile accident.

Tammy Van Zant who lost her dad, Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie, in the plane crash, said Wilkeson was like a father to her.

"I know he's with my grandma and my dad ... and they're just jamming away in heaven," she said.

Coach Leonard Skinner -- the high school gym coach who's name was ridiculed in the band's name -- was one of the speakers at the memorial.

Every time I ever met Leon, he was so super nice to me," Skinner told the crowd. "I, for one, am going to miss him."

Recorded Lynyrd Skynyrd music was played at the service, as well as a live performance of one of the Skynyrd bassist's favorite songs.

Almost a thousand people attended Wilkeson's burial Tuesday morning in what was to have been a private ceremony. Members of his family and the band had paid their respects to Wilkeson Monday evening at a private viewing

Immediately following Wilkeson's burial Tuesday, Dale Krantz Rossington and her husband, founding band member and guitarist, Gary Rossington left for Indiana to attend the funeral of Dale's father, who died Saturday.

"My mother postponed Daddy's memorial service a day so I could be here in Jacksonville for Leon's viewing and burial," Dale said. Warren Krantz was 82 and had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for several years.

Wilkeson, one of the band's founding members, apparently died in his sleep in a Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., hotel on Friday. He had survived the 1977 plane crash that killed three band members, and had been touring with the band for almost three decades.

The band has announced that they will resume their summer tour on Aug. 11 in Las Vegas, with Ean Evans on bass. Evans had sat in for Wilkenson in the past.

"Leon would have wanted it this way," founding member and piano player Billy Powell said in a release. "Being on state has always been a safe haven to us, and performing these songs is our therapy."

The band plans to keep their Aug. 23 concert at Jacksonville's Metropolitan Park, and also participate in a Celebration of Life event at the St. Augustine Amphitheater on Oct. 20 that will honor not only their fallen members, but other musicians.

A memorial marker to Wilkeson will be erected at Jacksonville's Evergreen Cemetery, the site of the memorial service.