Metro Detroit restaurant remembers patron known for singing with longtime friend
Two friends in the Metro Detroit area have been spreading positivity for decades. At one particular restaurant in Farmington, the manager has been documenting the two older gentlemen for years, putting smiles on the faces of everyone they encounter.
"We met for 32 years once a week and coming here was part of that," said Dan LeMay.
LeMay has been a regular at L. George's Coney Island in Farmington for decades, every Monday in the same booth, with the same order, with his best friend Ron Ward. That routine would last all the way until they walked to the register.
"We would go up to pay, and we'd come up with a song," said LeMay.
And then the whole restaurant would have their days brightened when LeMay and Ward would burst into song, loud enough for everyone to hear. The woman behind the counter, manager Amy Garbacz, would record the two men every Monday.
"Well, as soon as they walk in, everybody knows what they're going to do. Everybody loves singing along with them and everything," Garbacz told CBS News Detroit.
But for the first time in over 30 years, the restaurant fell silent when Ward died on Sept. 21 at age 88. He is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren.
Garbacz says that when she learned of Ward's passing, she compiled all the videos so they and the community could see them.
"That's why I'm still glad that everybody has the videos so that way everybody can see them and enjoy them because he lit up everybody's life, not just the people who knew him," she said,
Just like Garbacz, LeMay is now grieving the loss of his friend, but he'll still pop into L. George's to make his voice heard. And it's not just the restaurant where LeMay blesses the world with his pipes. He says, just like Ward used to, he'll break into song wherever.
While LeMay is admittedly sad thinking about his longtime friend and singing partner, he knows spreading cheer goes a long way.
"If you stay positive, it gets other people to stay positive too," he said.
