Arrangements for Phil Wyman's passing.

MONEY WILL GO TO

-Travel to Wales to take care of my Dad's body/Scatter ashes

-Returning his belongings to the United States

-Setting up a ceremony in the Salem, MA area

-Fixing his old RV

-Unknown costs associated with the process

On friday May 26th, my father, Phil Wyman suffered a heart attack while waiting to perform at pub in Wales and died before and an ambulance was able to arrive. The outpouring of love and support online has been amazing and I want to thank everyone from all over the world for their kindness to my father in life. He was an amazing man and someone who also needed a lot of support. You were all his support system, even if you thought it was the other way around. As a pastor's child, I perceive that all people are preaching the gospel they themselves need to hear. My father was the prime example of this. He preached community and love because that's what he so desperately needed in return. He knew that love is a currency you only receive by giving first.

Thank you to everyone reaching out and I'm sorry I'm not picking up my phone. Everything is so overwhelming in the short term that I'm having panic attacks regularly and not in any state to chat with most people yet. I'll be good soon and will get back to everyone as I feel I can cope with it.

While I've yet to receive the official paperwork from the coroner, I've confirmed my information with the officer who arrived on the scene. To be honest, at this point, I don't know the pub he died in, his last words, where his body is stored or when I'll be able to arrange to get his stuff and body returned so that I can properly grieve the loss of my father. I am an only child. There is no one else to take care of this.

Regardless of how this fundraiser performs I will take care of everything. I pride myself in being self-sufficient and even asking for any assistance feels shameful. My instinct is to deal with this quietly and alone, but I'm self-aware enough to know that's not only unhealthy but incredibly selfish. My pops meant a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and it would be unfair to not allow them to grieve properly as well. I will hold a celebration of his life at some point in JULY in Salem, MA. I'll post things on FB when the time comes. That's all great and all, but then there are the logistics and those logistics are mine.

There is no Will. There was never a discussion or plan for his death. My inheritance is a broken-down RV (which I LOVE and am grateful for) and a guitar amp that is sitting behind me as I type. It's more than enough, but realistically there is a cost associated with bringing my dad home. He wasn't a rich guy traveling for fun or a trust-funded backpacker, my dad was purposefully poor and lived off the charity of others plus a slow trickle of book sales and editing gigs.

Similarly, I make my living as a ghostwriter right now (very glamorous I know) and recently launched a surf brand. I'm not a rich man either. My fiance and I do have savings, however, my dad's death hit at an amazingly inconvenient time as I received some pretty bad bloodwork just the week prior. As some of you know, I live with a kidney transplant. I have a disease that can come back at any time and am well into the half-life of a transplant. Like I said, regardless, my father's body or ashes are coming home, however, any money raised here would help me not dig into my savings so that I can save that for when I inevitably need to fund my own healthcare. (America is fun.)

That RV I mentioned earlier, her name is Priscilla and my dad lived in it and traveled the United States in it. Many of you may have been in it yourselves or seen it at Burning Man. Just before he left the United States he stored the RV at my Uncle's property in the desert and moved in with my grandma in her tiny studio apt in longbeach to sleep on her couch and care for her full time. The RV consequently sat and baked in the desert. Last year I pulled the fuel pump and replaced it and rebuilt the throttle body on her and the old 454 big block fired right up, but she needs a lot of work.

I already have a plan and a space for her in my best friend's yard in Pasadena. He runs a recording studio there just outside LA and the RV will be not only used by me, but occasionally house artists coming through. My dad knew of these plans and was so happy I wasn't going to sell the RV. Now, I know I can't sell it. It means way too much to me. Either way, it's both a blessing and a curse, lol, as I will absolutely dump countless hours and likely a shocking sum to make it truly excellent again. I had assumed that one day my dad's heart condition would catch up with him (slowly!) and by that time I could have bought him a small plot of land in the California desert near friends and family. His RV could be there and he could "retire" playing guitar under the stars with all his weird esoteric friends complaining he wasn't in Wales.

Thank you so much again for your support. I can't imagine a normal dad and I can't imagine life without my weird. goofy-guy of a father. He was actually different, which is something I value above all else. The more you knew him, the more you realized he was a fairly complex and private man. He was a thinker who excelled at pivoting someone else's anger into something silly. Over the past decade, while the world got meaner, he stayed true to his friendly self. This is a mark of confidence. My dad often said to me some variation of "DANG!" (lol, he said dang a lot.) "Just kill me if I get to be one of those people who get grumpier as they get older. I wanna get nicer." I think about this a lot as the world gets meaner and meaner around us. It's almost a mantra to me to remind myself to age in kindness.

Every person alive is a wonderful mix of good and bad, wins and losses. My dad was no exception and perhaps his worst trait was as a businessman. This is why he was so pure an example of a minister. In fact, I consider my father to be the only biblical preacher I've ever met. I'm sure there are others. He couldn't make a dollar to save his life.

If he meant something to you, please consider donating whatever you feel you can. Like I mentioned, I'm an only child and I don't come from money. I've only asked a low amount because that's what google tells me the average cost for this is. That's not including his things being sent back or anything for a ceremony to celebrate his life. I don't expect anything from anyone, but like I mentioned, if there is more raised than i will change the goals reasonably and the rest will cover other related costs to laying my dad to rest and preserving his legacy.

If I come across as cold or clinical, I'm sorry. I'm in shock to be honest. I said my "Goodbye" and cried when he left for Wales because I knew very well my dad was potentially taking his last journey. I didn't know it would be so sudden or that I would truly never see him again. I fully expected to get a call any day while he was starting his walk across Wales. I would jest that BBC is going to pick him up for a reality series soon if he keeps dressing like a total weirdo. I don't really know how to end this. Everything feels a little darker without him here. If you're choosing between gas and food regularly (I've been there, no judgment) please do not donate. My dad would be absolutely ashamed of me for taking any money from you. <3