All he needed was an agent and he could have had his own sitcom on national TV. If you can get a mental picture of Squeeky on Laverne and Shirley – that was Karoni. He always had a joke. When Karoni walked up to me – I was always looking both ways to see who was listening. He would say anything.
Karoni spent most of his time trapping and/or hunting. His normal attire was camouflage. I’m sure he had other clothes but he never wore them. A normal scene in Reynolds was to see several people gathered around the back of Karoni’s pick-up truck to see what kind of varmint he had killed.
For several years I traveled to every corner of rural Georgia speaking at almost every civic club and organization you can imagine. I always asked people if they had heard of Reynolds.
Most of the time there would be three reasons people had heard of Reynolds. One was Garland Byrd, who was a former Lt. Governor of the state. Everybody knew him. The second was the Silver Dollar Raceway. I think there are people in every county in the state who have raced at Ed Swearingen’s raceway.
The third was Karoni Wainwright. It was amazing how many people throughout the state knew Karoni. And they always had a funny story to tell about him.
If you read my book, you know about Karoni’s comment during the funeral procession at his grandmother’s funeral. He was sitting in the back seat between his mother and his aunt. They were visibly upset and crying and Karoni had his arm around both of them. Out of the clear blue he asked me if I knew how many people it took to eat a possum.
The crying stopped and it got silent in the car so I figured I needed to answer him.
“No, Karoni,” I answered. “How many?”
Since it’s not cool for an undertaker to laugh during a funeral, his reply almost caused me to bend the steering wheel to keep from it.
“Three. Two to watch the traffic,” was his reply.
And he put his arms back around his mother and aunt… and the mourning continued. I can tell you there was nothing his mother and aunt could do with him. They didn't even try.
Karoni suffered a heart attack a few years ago and was rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital and was admitted into their ICU. They scheduled some tests for the next day so the doctors could understand the extent of the damage to his heart.
Karoni promptly checked himself out of the hospital. He told the doctors he had to get back to Taylor County. Deer season opened the next day and he couldn’t miss it.
He collapsed the next morning before he could get into his stand. He was rushed back to the hospital but this time he didn’t make it.
I was honored to be asked to speak at his funeral service and we celebrated his life just as it was. I remember there was laughter and tears that day. We had to laugh as we remembered some of the stories that made him so unique. We had to cry because we knew he left us much too soon.
There will never be another Karoni Wainwright.
And I carry a piece of him wherever I go.
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