Joe McDaniel sent this email to his group mailing October 22, 2017 after
returning from their Scotland vacation:
"Most
every Checker player knows about James Wylie. He was champion of the world for
40 years in the mid to late 1800’s and spent his entire life in Scotland. Lee’s
guide and other books have a lot of play credited to Wylie. He was a hero to
the Scots. When he died he was carried by train from his hometown to Leven,
Scotland, where he was buried in 1899. When the train passed by the small towns
many would remove their hats in respect for Wylie. Wylie was to Checkers what
Elvis was to Rock and Roll music. There have been players and entertainers just
as good or better than Wylie and Elvis but they were first.
We just got back from 11 days in Scotland and had
a great time. We had a tour guide who took us to Scoonie cemetery in Levin so
we could find Wylie’s grave. After an hour of
searching over 1000 grave stones we were about to give up when Jeannie found an
overturned gravestone face down. We had a photo with us and from the back it
looked just like the one we were looking for. We tried to turn the stone over
but it weighed at least 400 lbs. So we went down town and bought a shovel and a
crow bar. After some effort we finally got the stone upright and sure enough it
was what we were looking for. We washed it off with bottled water. I have
enclosed some photos.
Joe said they enjoyed Scotland. Visited many castles, churches, museums and battlefields. Breathtaking scenery and great people.
I plan to contact the Scottish Draughts Association and ask them to set the stone back up."
Joe also posted their Scotland experience on www.facebook.com Below are some other links you may wish to review.
http://www.nccheckers.org/NCCA/March-2008 The Scots Magazine.htm
http://www.wylliedraughts.com/HerdLad.htm
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSvcid=20567&GRid=17350932&