When the notifications icon bell at the top of my Ragtimers Club Facebook page has a red number in double digits on a Sunday afternoon it is generally a sign of bad news. Indeed, the word of Bryan Cather’s sudden death at age 53 has not only been shocking but it has inspired an outpouring of sentiment from across the ragtime and St. Louis area communities. For well over a decade, Bryan has been President of the Friends of Scott Joplin which supports the Scott Joplin House where he was employed and volunteered as a docent guide. The Joplin House is a state historic site owned and operated by the Missouri State Department of Natural Resources.
We are prone to use the term “friend” rather freely these days when we often only mean acquaintance, colleague or perhaps neighbor, without the mutual affection and bonding of lives the term “friend” implies. Today I learned firsthand from on-line tributes and personal telephone calls that Bryan Cather knew many people who genuinely called him friend.
In fact, it was a close young friend, Clinton Gray who was concerned when he couldn’t contact Bryan on Saturday (January 4th) and called Almetta Jordan, who then was likewise worried and went to Bryan’s home where she found his body. He had obviously suffered a massive heart attack. She then began efficiently contacting authorities and then family and friends about Bryan’s deat
