It’s easy to see why WAYNE LOCKE loves Emmett Kelly, Sr.
“When I became the hobo ‘Freddie Highpockets,’ I patterned my face from his,” Locke said. He has been one clown character or another for many years, from “Doc Wishbone,” a reference to his days as a Navy hospital corpsman, to “Jus Wally,” the character most of us living on North Whidbey have seen turn up at unexpected places.
Kelly, whose character “Wearie Willie” couldn’t make the spotlight disappear, once said, “By laughing at me, the audience really laughs at themselves, and realizing they have done this gives them sort of a spiritual second wind for going back into the battles of life.“
“A clown is constantly on stage,” Locke noted, a stage presence he uses to say “thank you” to a city that has given him so much. “Clowning has given me such joy; it’s not hard to keep your audience, they love you so much. Clowning lets you explore all the positive senses and aspects of life; even pain.”
His eyes glisten when he remembers the “Funniest Show On Earth,” a show he organized in 2006 for children of military parents who were deployed from or worked at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. “Military families lives are different and very special to me. I get emotional when I think of those kids.”
His cronies, Leon McBride, or “Buttons,” a master clown and his sidekick, “Chaggy the Clown,” Whidbey Island resident “Charlie the Clown” and several others came out to put on the show supported by such community businesses as Coachman Inn, Best Western, Mitzel’s, Oak Harbor Travel, Arby’s and other fine businesses.
There were those city folk who doubted the gig would be successful, but at curtain time, some 1,500 seats were filled at two performances in the high school auditorium. All remaining money after expenses from the show were given to the Forgotten Children’s Fund, located in Greenbank but serving all Whidbey Island children.
As clowning fades from American culture, this successful real estate salesman has turned his focus to affordable local housing, simply another way to pay back the city that adopted him.
To talk with Locke, or Jus Wally, or the new golfing clown named “Duffer,” call him at Coldwell Banker Tara Properties, 360-929-0226.
It’s easy to see why WAYNE LOCKE loves Emmett Kelly, Sr.
“When I became the hobo ‘Freddie Highpockets,’ I patterned my face from his,” Locke said. He has been one clown character or another for many years, from “Doc Wishbone,” a reference to his days as a Navy hospital corpsman, to “Jus Wally,” the character most of us living on North Whidbey have seen turn up at unexpected places.
Kelly, whose character “Wearie Willie” couldn’t make the spotlight disappear, once said, “By laughing at me, the audience really laughs at themselves, and realizing they have done this gives them sort of a spiritual second wind for going back into the battles of life.“
“A clown is constantly on stage,” Locke noted, a stage presence he uses to say “thank you” to a city that has given him so much. “Clowning has given me such joy; it’s not hard to keep your audience, they love you so much. Clowning lets you explore all the positive senses and aspects of life; even pain.”
His eyes glisten when he remembers the “Funniest Show On Earth,” a show he organized in 2006 for children of military parents who were deployed from or worked at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. “Military families lives are different and very special to me. I get emotional when I think of those kids.”
His cronies, Leon McBride, or “Buttons,” a master clown and his sidekick, “Chaggy the Clown,” Whidbey Island resident “Charlie the Clown” and several others came out to put on the show supported by such community businesses as Coachman Inn, Best Western, Mitzel’s, Oak Harbor Travel, Arby’s and other fine businesses.
There were those city folk who doubted the gig would be successful, but at curtain time, some 1,500 seats were filled at two performances in the high school auditorium. All remaining money after expenses from the show were given to the Forgotten Children’s Fund, located in Greenbank but serving all Whidbey Island children.
As clowning fades from American culture, this successful real estate salesman has turned his focus to affordable local housing, simply another way to pay back the city that adopted him.
To talk with Locke, or Jus Wally, or the new golfing clown named “Duffer,” call him at Coldwell Banker Tara Properties, 360-929-0226.
