Thqanks for putting this up, Greg. What a great guy

This is heartbreaking.  Years ago, I worked with Van at his “day job”.  Van was such a brilliant, caring, passionate and fascinating person.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

Thanks for posting Greg.

I’ve known Van since 1971. We would have almost tribal gatherings at the Ramada Inn in East Tupelo about 1/2 mile from Elvis’ birthplace. Van always called it the Ramadama and we proudly called ourselves “the family of Van”. His car was never the Camero…It ways always the “Canchero”. The segregated roadhouses where we misbehaved and soaked up Southern culture barely tolerated our early glam-rock personas. Bowie and Lou Reed, the MC5…That was our soundtrack. At Mississippi State Van was a funny, charismatic classmate. He and I went to New Orleans in ‘73 and by 10pm I was done but not Van. He demanded that I leave him in the Quarter and the next morning he was back at our West Bank motel, insisting that he had walked across the Greater New Orleans bridge. He always loved the Crescent City until the day he was brutally attacked there. After that, there was an underlying sadness in my friend and as the years went by we lost contact.

Van’s parents Marion and Betty are wonderful, loving people and his sister Libby is funny with the same sense of humor that Van possessed. They can be found via the web and would appreciate a card I’m sure.

Here’s to Van…A very special person.

Richard Anderson
Deep Gap, NC

Van was the only guy in high school with Ike and Tina Turner playing on his car 8-track.
Miss you Van.
gk
 
 
 

Richard and G. Kidd—it is so nice to hear from Van’s friends from before his time in C-U. I’m glad you wrote.
I met Van shortly after he moved up here. We wrote record reviews and interviewed bands for the Daily Illini together, and he quickly became an integral part of our little crowd of outcasts. 
He was funny, rebellious, colorful, smart—a great friend and unforgettable character who was game for anything. I’ve been hearing his voice in my head since I heard the news.
You don’t meet too many people like Van Cagle in a lifetime. Those who knew him were the lucky ones.
You were loved, Van.
 

Just a follow-up:
I just talked to my Mom in Tupelo. There was a large turnout for Van’s funeral. About a dozen of the old “family of Van” showed up and 60 or so friends of Mr. and Mrs. Cagle. Van and his family were all loved in the community. Van’s dad managed the  Barber’s milk plant. Van was always one for impromtu sayings. When he was happy he would turn it into an advertising slogan and declare that he was “just a grinnin’ for Barber’s milk”. I’m sure that whatever plane we exist on after we leave this vale of tears, Van has the assembly in stiches.
Richard Anderson
Deep Gap, NC 
  

oh thank you for letting us know that Richard….so much.

Well, this is quite a shock.  I was taught by Van in C-U in the early 1980s.  He oft remained on my mind, and I sent him the following message through LinkedIn last year:

“Hello, Van…I’ve oft remembered, and chuckled, @ how you read your more colorful student evaluations in class. “you commie pinko…you strut in here like you’re Mick f*cking Jagger, or somebody.” Something like that. Still makes me laugh, 25-some years later…Anyway, as I mentioned, I oft have a random thought of you - the commie pinko from Champaign-Urbana. This morning I was trying to remember the name of someone I met nary 6 months ago, but couldn’t. I thought, “if only he had a memorable name…like Van F*cking Cagle.” I’m @ my computer, w/LinkedIn open, and the rest is history.”
We reconnected, and it was quite nice.  I went to FINALLY buy Van’s book online today on Amazon, and saw a review there mentioned he had passed.  It’s sad.  I hardly knew Van, but he has stuck w/me all these years, and will be missed.
Joe

I was deeply saddened to hear of Van’s passing. I knew Van through the C-U music scene where I mixed friends bands and the odd punks passing through. We used to hang at Greenwich Village Midwest, the name we had given Steve and Lynn’s apartment building next to Vriner’s Malts and Owen Faber’s pawnshop. I last saw Van in the late ‘90’s, laughing over beer at the Esquire Lounge with me and a friend and that is how I will always remember him. I miss you too, Brother!