Last call: Suburban Detroit bar honors wish, hosts longtime employee's funeral attended by 100

2/13/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Family and friends are planning to pay their final respects to Lehr on Thursday at the All Around Bar in Taylor, Mich.
Family and friends are planning to pay their final respects to Lehr on Thursday at the All Around Bar in Taylor, Mich.

TAYLOR, Mich. — A friend, father, bouncer and husband several times over has been remembered in the suburban Detroit watering hole he considered his second home and place he requested for his funeral.

Fifty-eight-year-old Jimmy Lehr’s open pine casket was parked on the dance floor Thursday of the All Around Bar as about 100 family members and friends paid their final respects.

Lehr was eulogized by many, including bar owner Dave Karlson, family members and third ex-wife Cheryl Lehr. But Chaplain Janine Folks says the longtime All Around employee “eulogized himself in life” by sharing stories with so many.

He died Feb. 7 after having pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.

The casket was built by friends in about 15 hours. It was placed near where Lehr’s fourth wedding was held in 1996.