Peyton Coyner (1946-2025)

Carol & Peyton in 2016

My friend, Peyton Coyner, died May 16. He was just shy of 79. We met as college students at the University of Virginia in 1969, were both Rolling Stones fans and partied together during my senior year. He was the only person I knew in Charlottesville when I returned to graduate school in 1972 after military service.  He patiently listened to my stories of Vietnam and helped me become a civilian again.  Our friendship deepened based on shared values, including a strong dislike of Richard Nixon. In 73-74 we were neighbors a few miles apart on Old Lynchburg Road.  We spent much time at one house or the other.  That was the year Peyton was dating his future wife, Carol, beginning a relationship that would more than half a century. 

 

Our friendship continued after I moved to Richmond in 1974. I was a frequent visitor to the home he shared with Carol in Crozet while he began planning to build a house in rural Nelson County. He was aghast when I decided to move to Phoenix, Arizona in 1982 (“Why would you want to live in that hell hole?” was more or less what he asked. I’m not sure I had a satisfactory answer but I went anyway.) One of my biggest concerns was how the move would affect a friendship that had evolved into family-adjacent territory. I needn’t have worried. Peyton became a regular correspondent, sending cards, clippings, pictures and song parodies. His letters and cards (envelopes, too) were works of art, generously illustrated with rubber stamp images and the occasional sketch. Along with the regular correspondence, he and Carol welcomed me on many return trips to Virginia to visit friends. Their home became my anchor to Virginia.

During those years our friendship deepened despite the almost 3,000 miles between us. Peyton may have thought Phoenix was a hell hole but he loved southern Utah and I traveled there with him several times. We car camped in Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks and other points in 1995 and canoed the Green River through Labyrinth Canyon the following year. (He taught me how to steer a canoe on that trip.) In 1999 he joined my brother and me rafting the San Juan River. A few years later he was one of my primary Trail Angels when I hiked the Appalachian Trail. After hearing my description of trail magic (people serving food and drink to hikers on the AT) Peyton began doing the same at the Tye River crossing not far from his home. In 2011 he visited Olympia and we camped three nights at Mt. Rainier National Park. We canoed the Okeefenokee Swamp in 2014.

Peyton was always willing to share himself, whether through his fine stained glass artistry or community service. His house was filled with his glass creations; many other creations made their way to friends’ homes (including mine). During a long retirement beginning in the mid-1990s Peyton helped establish and construct the Almost Home Animal Shelter that dramatically increased adoption rates in Nelson County. He continued his commitment to animal rescue by driving animals from Virginia as far north as Boston for adoption(“mutt shuttles”) and he regularly transported injured animals to local wildlife centers. He was instrumental in converting the abandoned Blue Ridge Railroad right-of-way to a hiking, biking and horseback riding trail along the Piney River in southern Nelson County. In 2005 he volunteered to repair damage in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. On a smaller scale, Peyton kept the Rockfish River clear of boating hazards; one canoe trip I took with him involved cutting “strainers” out of the way, a task that occasionally sent up rooster-tails of water when his chainsaw blade cut below the surface.

My world is diminished with Peyton’s passing but the loss, while particularly acute at the moment, in no way diminishes the joy and companionship that he brought to my life. I am fortunate to have shared so many years of friendship with him.

Peyton was a fine man and good friend. I will miss him.

The best epitaph I can offer is Peyton’s own words. It’s one of many parodies and speaks to the kind of person he was.

Mutt Shuttle Man (w/ apologies to Billy Joel.) 

 

It's six a.m. on a Saturday
As the regular crowd shuffles in
There's an Amherst gal working next to me
Stuffin’ pups in a plastic cage pen
She says, "Man, do you think these are Rotties here?
I'm not really sure if they are,
But they’re sad and they’re sweet and they got damn big feet
They’ll be lucky to fit in the car."

La la la, di de da
La la, di de da da dum

Chorus:
Bring us some dogs, you’re Mutt Shuttle Man
Bring us some dogs today
Well, we're all in the mood for some Malamutes
Bring some Beagles and Blue Ticks our way.

Now the New Jersey shelters have friendly folk,
And they get all our puppies for free
Most will quickly be sold, but down here dogs grow old
While there's some place that they'd rather be.
They’d say, "Lord, I believe they’ll be killing me."
As the wag fades away from their tail
"Well, I'm sure I could be a great lap dog
If I could get out of this jail."

La la la, di de da
La la, di de da da dum

Oh, I seem an interstate junkie now
Who never has time for his wife
Haulin’ hounds small and big, I am stuck with this gig
And probably will be for life
And the waitresses don’t share my politics
Other drivers all seem to be stoned
As they're phonin’ and textin’ and tweetin’,
Guess it's better than dying alone.

Chorus
Bring us some dogs, you’re Mutt Shuttle Man
Bring us some dogs today
Well, we're all up here looking for Pointers,
Bring some Shelties and Shepherds our way.

It's a pretty good crowd for a van load
And the shelter guy gives me a smile
'Cause he knows that it's me who’ll help mop up the pee
While we stretch out some lives for a while
And the van, it sounds full of carnivores
And the steering wheel smells just like fleas
And the folks at the charities laugh at my parodies
And say, "Man, why are you writin' these?"

Oh, la la la, di de da
La la, di de da da dum

Chorus:
Bring us some dogs, you’re Mutt Shuttle Man
Bring us some dogs today
Well, we've all got our hearts set on Labradors
Bring some Dobies and Dachshunds our way