In Memoriam: Robert "Bobby" Delay, 1958-2005

Prince of the Wild Palms

For two years I have wondered about the abrupt disappearance of one of the most extraordinary souls I ever encountered on the Internet -- Bob Delay -- who I wrote about in the essays, "The Wild Palms of Etowah," and "The Onion Eater."

Then yesterday I received an email from a reader in his hometown of Etowah, Tennessee:

"Bobby took an overdose of prescription drugs and died in August 2005. When he killed himself he set his computer to notify the police the next morning. He went so far as to tell the police that there were dogs inside the house but they should not worry cause the dogs would not hurt them. Had it all planned out."

Early on Bob decided to devote his whole life's energy to seeking universal spiritual truth and was widely ridiculed by people such as his cousin, disgraced Texas Congressman Tom Delay, for refusing to take a normal workaday job. As a younger man Bob traveled widely to sit at the feet of holy men, studied an astounding range and depth of the world’s religious and philosophical writings. Ultimately, he took the plunge into the deepest sort of exploration and came back up with the prize of universal understanding in his grip and, as saints and prophets have so often warned, the attending horror of that truth. The truth being that all formal religions are a lie, and that man advances spiritually by himself and through great personal pain and labor. He was brilliant to the point of madness, which is the only way to be brilliant.

God rest his soul. He was a brother to me and all who bothered to know the reclusive soul in that brokedown mansion in Etowah, Tennessee.

Joe