LLOYD INSLEE

Jan. 21, 1947 - Jan. 13, 2015

In 2001, our family bought a house owned by the one and only, slightly odd, mostly eccentric, ZZ Top look-alike Lloyd Inslee. He would spend each subsequent Thanksgiving and family gathering at our home.

He could be seen around town doing laundry every Saturday at Crystal Cleaners, shopping at Jewel, hand-pushing his mower in tattered jeans and T-shirt on his large lot across from the lake, or at the Environmental Protection Agency, where he worked for the last several years.

Lloyd’s eccentricity is what made him special.

He looked odd – tall and extremely thin with long, white hair (usually in a pigtail) and with an even longer white beard. He acted odd – keeping most people at arm’s length, even placing sawhorses in his driveway to keep people out. I didn’t see the inside of his house until the last two weeks of his life. He was hermit-like but kept tabs on his surroundings by running a police scanner 24/7. His beliefs were traditional but applied unconventionally – he spearheaded a cardboard box ministry at work, maintained a letter-writing ministry to prison inmates for years, and was a professional window cleaner who always offered his services as a love gift.

He died oddly, but full of grace. In November 2014, Lloyd was diagnosed with late-stage cancer. He refused chemotherapy because it would mean losing his long, white hair and beard. He stopped eating and wanted to die at home. Our family and another close friend stepped in to care for him the last weeks of his life. He passed from my arms into eternity hearing that splendid old hymn, “Fairest Lord Jesus…Thou my soul’s glory, joy and crown.”

Tracy Knox, friend