DALLAS — Southwest Airlines has long touted a record of on-time departures and arrivals, so it was fitting that the celebration of life for co-founder Herb Kelleher started at the very minute it was scheduled, with a drumline parading down the floor of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center’s arena floor.
Some of Southwest’s original employees followed the drummers.
Within minutes, stories were being shared from some of Kelleher’s best friends.
“He wanted an open casket with everyone smoking and drinking. And he didn’t care if cigarette ashes spilled on his body or if booze spilled onto him,” said Colleen Barrett, to the roar of the crowd.
Barrett had been by Kelleher’s side since 1967, when she became his secretary at a law firm in San Antonio. She followed him as he began his own firm, and then helped with the legal wrangling that ensnarled the launch of Southwest Airlines.
Barrett eventually became president of Southwest.
She shared multiple stories that garnered lots of laughter from the more than 5,000 people gathered.
But in the end, she choked up as she spoke directly to her lifelong friend and boss.
“Godspeed, dearest Herb. Please know we are hugging you, laughing with you and still learning from you. Thank you for giving us 100 percent of your time, attention, energy, brilliance and fun spirit,” she said.
Kelleher died January 3 at the age of 87.
“He was wickedly witty. He was spontaneous. He was irreverent, and he was very unpredictable,” said Southwest Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly.
The stories shared painted a picture of a man who was authentic, yet eccentric; absent-minded, yet brilliant.
Somehow it was the perfect mix of character traits needed to launch an airline around affordability and fun.
“Herb literally democratized aviation,” said Bill Cunningham, presiding director of Southwest’s board of directors. “He made it possible for grandparents to visit their grandchildren, for young families to take vacations, and for business people to meet with their customers. He changed America.”
The airline Kelleher launched more than 40 years ago now has more than 60,000 employees. Southwest has never laid anyone off and never cut anyone’s pay. That’s why so many of his admirers are employees, like Tim Childress, who attended the memorial in a suit made of peanut wrappers.
“Herb was truly one of a kind in my book. To come to work and not wear a mask and be like, I’m just gonna have fun,” Childress said. “That’s what’s kept me here for 15 years.”
That peanut wrapper suit was the third suit Childress had made from peanut wrappers in his decade and a half with the company. Herb had seen the others and loved them.
None of the stories shared at the public memorial seemed to resonate more than the stories about Herb’s love of adult beverages, specifically Wild Turkey.
So, his family took the stage and toasted him with airline bottles of bourbon.
Joan, his wife of 64 years visibly winced at the drink that her husband easily downed.
“He measured us by our willingness to share a smile, our willingness to offer grace, to accept the apology, to give the second chance, to laugh with all we had,” said Maria Dixon Hall, who offered a prayer. “But most of all to treat others with dignity and justice.”
“We were changed by a man who lived large, but most of all loved even larger,” she said.