*** the great hoss rose was great in the eyes of his daughters and all who knew him , except maybe bernice , and there he 'd lost standing only by demerit of minor flaws , petty irritations ; for example , while reading the folkston recorder he might come across a familiar old name in the obituaries and , knowing it was n't the same person they both knew , he 'd say to bernice something like , 'well , looks like old walter lee finally gave up the ghost , ' as if the name walter lee had been assigned to one man forever .