Marjorie Maxine Miller started my favorite Fayetteville, Arkansas, watering hole–Maxine’s Tap Room–way back in 1950. It is a place that Kris Kristofferson might describe as having “cigarette smoke to the ceiling” and “friendly shadows.”
Sadly, Maxine died Friday, May, 26, 2006. The last time I saw Maxine at the Tap Room must have been a few years back…she was in a wheelchair (not easy in a bar as narrow as Maxine’s) and, if I remember correctly, on oxygen…it must have been shortly after her stroke. She was famous for, among other things, the “last call” phrase that serves as the title of this post…
There will be a memorial toast at the Tap Room today.
The following quote is from the Northwest Arkansas Times article yesterday:
Her funeral is Thursday and a memorial toast will be held at the Tap Room, 107 N. Block Ave., after the graveside service. “I was actually going to buy a keg and just let people get a toast, but whenever I thought about it, I thought Maxine would just get ticked off at me for not charging people,” said her greatniece, Andrea Foren. She and other family members who helped Maxine at the bar over the year have been taking care of it since Maxine had a stroke about three years ago. The family intends to keep the bar open.
Take a look at pictures I’ve taken of the Tap Room (but not Maxine) at this address:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tjnjamie/maxines/index.html or at my Flicker Stream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcbrandon/sets/72057594094493775/
And finally, take a look at the Arkansas Blog for a brief blurb & A LOT of testimonials (& they used one of my pics!)….
