The 85-year-old Haywood County native was killed in a car crash last week alongside his girlfriend, pet squirrel and dog.
The then-toothless actor rose to fame for his role in “Deliverance,” but it was his kindness that family and friends remember him for.
“Daddy’d be on Aisle One, we’d be down on Aisle Six and daddy would have the buggy way back there and mamma would holler for him because he’s back there talking to somebody,” Debbie Fradey, Coward’s daughter, said. “Daddy didn’t know no strangers.”
Before the service, Waynesville Mayor Gary Caldwell walked over to Fradey and handed her a piece of paper proclaiming August 21, 2024, as Herbert “Cowboy” Coward Day.
The date of her father’s birthday.
“He would just love this,” Fradey said.
“It’s overwhelming, it is,” she said. “The love that’s come out for daddy is just, it’s amazing. He’s loving it, because daddy wasn’t no shy person.”
And if you were one of the people to run into Coward, you probably met his pet squirrel, Cowgirl, and dog, Little Man.
“Daddy had all kinds of wild animals and he just loved creatures, because daddy was a creature,” Fradey said. “He was a wild one.”
Fradey pointed to Edith Allen Wildlife Sanctuary, a nonprofit that works with orphaned and injured wildlife, for those looking to give to the family.
Cowboy visited the Sanctuary every Tuesday to feed the animals and hold the baby squirrels.
“He’s nothing like the movie was,” Medford said. “He’s a good-hearted, give-you-the-shirt-off-his-back kind of man. I’m going to miss him forever.”
