About ten years ago, maybe a little longer, I decided to start doing John Denver Tribute shows. I thought it would be nice to have something that looked like an authentic John Denver Shirt.
I knew that Anna Zapp was John Denvers seamstress, so I contacted her to make a few shirts for me. She said that she no longer made clothing but would come out of retirement just for me. I was so excited! She made quite a few shirts that I still wear on stage now and then. Anna's shirts were beautiful and she was a kind soul. We developed a small friendship.
She shared this story about JD with me. John was kind of fussy about his clothes. He was always a pretty trim guy but back in the early 80's he was starting to hit middle age. He was getting ready for one of his tours and Anna had made some pants for John. She sent John the pants but when he tried on his new pants, they didn’t fit. He was really mad and gave Anna a very upset phone call and chewed her out for making his clothes the wrong size. Anna was pretty shaken up. She checked her measurements and everything seemed right.
Anna told John that she made them the same size as all the rest of his previous pants. That’s when Anna said to John, have you weighed yourself lately?
John hung up the phone. He called Anna back after a short time with a very sincere apology. Turns out JD had put on a few pounds. Don't we all?
Anna continued to work for John for many years after that. She expressed to me her deep sadness over the loss of her good friend John.