Man, 96, Writes Tribute Song to Late Wife
By Christina Ng | ABC News Blogs – 23 hours ago
When
Green Shoe Studio advertised in Illinois for a singer-songwriter competition,
it received an unexpected entry.
It
was from a 96-year-old Peoria resident named Fred Stobaugh. His wife of nearly
73 years had recently died, and he saw the ad for the contest in the newspaper.
"After
she passed away, I was just sitting in the front room one evening by myself,
and it just came right to me," Stobaugh said in a Green
Shoe Studio video, which has been
viewed more than half a million times.
The
contest asked for people to submit YouTube videos of them performing their
entries.
"Instead
of a video, we received a very large manila envelop with the letter he
[Stobaugh] sent us," Green Shoe Studio producer Jacob Colgan said in the
video. "It was just so heartwarming, and we said, 'Fred, we're going to
record your song."
Stobaugh
had written on the envelope, "P.S. I don't sing. I would scare people.
Ha-ha."
"It
was just so cute how he wrote it," Colgan told ABC News. "He wanted
her to know that he loved her still."
The
song is called "Sweet Lorraine" and included the lines, "Oh,
sweet Lorraine, I wish we could do all the good times all over again."
"We
met up with him a couple times and just kind of played
some songs back and
forth," Colgan said of the process of turning Stobaugh's lyrics into a
professionally produced song.
"He
decided to put it to a guitar so I brought my guitar and just messed with it
for a week or so," Colgan said. "He really wanted to do a good job
and stay true to his original lyrics."
Stobaugh
met his wife, Lorraine, in 1938 when she was a car hop at the A&W root beer
stand.
"She
was just the prettiest girl I ever saw," Stobaugh said. "I just fell
in love with her right there."
The
couple dated for two years and then got married.
The
music studio set Stobaugh's lyrics to music and recorded the song with
professional musicians and a professional singer.
When Stobaugh heard the song
for the first time, he cried.
"It
was a wonderful 75 years," he said. "I really, really miss her."
The
song "Oh Sweet Lorraine" is available for purchase on iTunes.
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