Let me tell you .....about the real Willie from "down under"

by helen breeden helm
(frankston tx)

I am an aussie , was a member of Willies fan club since 1983 , saw Willie in Australia and it was through the fan club I met Ree Breeden , he had written a story about his friends young son Matthew who had cancer , asked if people would write to him , send a card etc so I did , at the time there was a misprint in the Willie newsletter it said Ree was a she , and she woud like anyone to write as a penpal , which I did , then found out Ree was a 'he' but continued to write ... I flew over in Sept 84 to meet Ree , we went to a concert in Nashville to see Willie , I had bought a stuffed toy a wombat as Willie said of all the animals he liked in OZ were the wombats ... after the concert we were fortunate enough to go back to the bus , Willie was on board and Gator said he wont come off now , so I handed the wombat to him and said please give this to Willie ...I could see him pass it back , then all of a sudden the doors opened and off walked Willie , tearing up , not knowing what to say , Willie looked at me and said ' are you the lady from Australia who bought me this wombat ?" I was in awe and said yessss, Ree was so excited he said to Willie , I am part Indian Willie to which Willie replied ' aren't we all ' it was awesome ... before the concert we did go to Frank and Jeanie's store (Willie Nelson General Store), they had an old Willie van there all painted up it was awesome ... it didn't take long to realize what a wonderful pair Frank and Jeanie Oakley were .... this story has a million chapters , I went back home to Australia , packed my belongings , my 2 sons , came back to VA and Ree and I married , we went to so many Willie concerts , too many to remember them all , my sons grew up with a fantastic step dad , life was good , telling you about life with Ree is a book , but we did not last forever , we married Jan 85 divorced in 98 , remained good friends he remained my sons dad and was an awesome one at that , Ree had no children of his own ....... ... there is so much to this story so much but it it with great sorrow that Ree Breeden passed away April 21st 2010 , his loss to all that knew him to the boys and myself is such a great loss , he left footprints in our hearts ...so many Willie stories we have to remember as a couple who met through his fan club ...Willie and the guys in the band the crew always treated us so well I feel so fortunate to have had such a caring man in my life and to be such fans of Willie , we lived , breathed Willie , we spent a week in Branson saw Willie 14 times well 13 Merle Haggard did one concert guess Willie was playing golf ..we were the Willie nuts ...the song "On the Road Again" had a lot of meaning :)