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Shrdlu Ashe was a man who chose his own name, his own way of life and, in the end, his own country.

Born Michael Ashe on Aug. 29, 1947 in Norwalk, he grew up from age 9 in New Milford, changing his name to Shrdlu in 1975.

Ashe died March 27 in his adopted country of Vietnam. His life was celebrated in a Buddhist funeral ceremony and he was buried in his Vietnamese wife Chi's family plot outside of Ho Chi Minh City.

His son, Elliott, 26, was with him at his death.

"It think it's fitting that he fell in love with Vietnam," said Ashe's former wife of 18 years, Elliott's mother, Melissa Merkling. "He was suited to the Asian Buddhist philosophy of what is, is, and taking life as it comes.

"He always did what he wanted to do in life, even though it was counter-cultural," Merkling added. "He loved bringing people together."

Spectrum Editor Emeritus Art Cummings was a friend of Ashe from their boyhood days.

"Shrdlu was a living legend in the New Milford area for decades," Cummings said. "He was a bright, creative person and multi-talented musician who performed thousands of times over the course of his successful career."

"He was one of those rare people who lived his life's dream and truly marched to the beat of his own drummer," he added..

Ashe had been born into a family of artists.

His father, Edmund Ashe Jr., was a freelance commercial artist known locally for his cartoon page, "The Ashe Can," which was featured in The New Milford Times for more than a decade.

Shrdlu's grandfather, Edmund Ashe Sr., was a founder in 1922 of New Canaan's Silvermine Guild of Artists.

"Mike had the artist's streak that ran in our family," said his brother, Edmund Ashe III. "I remember the piano that was in our house in New Milford when we moved into it in 1956. Mike would sit at it and try to play it."

Shrdlu Ashe wrote of himself on his web page: "The artistic gene expressed itself as a fascination with music, which has guided my entire life."

Once dubbed "New Milford's Unofficial Troubadour," Shrdlu Ashe's range of instruments included harmonica, fiddle, guitar, steel drum, flute, alto sax and various whistles and pipes.

He studied chromatic harmonica at the Manhattan School of Music with world-renowned virtuoso Robert Bonfiglio. He played with and had several bands over the years, including New York Chalk, Brother Jump, the K-Man Band and the Shrdlu Band.

Ashe served in the United States Army in Vietnam in 1967-68 as a truck mechanic. He returned to Vietnam in 2009 on a trip with his son, who was working in Asia.

On that first trip back, Ashe "became fascinated with Asian instruments," longtime friend Mark Sichel said. Ashe was actively playing with musicians in Vietnam in his final years.

Sichel recalled Saturday how "Shrdlu had a view both global and local. He was very connected for so long to New Milford; we would walk on Bank Street and he would know seemingly everyone who passed by, both young and old."

A tribute to Ashe was held Tuesday at 59 Bank in New Milford.

"I'm deeply saddened by Shrdlu's death," Cummings said. "He was a special, unique, colorful guy, and he's going to be missed by a lot of people."

Immigrants to tell their stories

 "Breaking Bread and Barriers," a forum on immigration, will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. in Fellowship Hall of the New Milford United Methodist Church, 68 Danbury Road.

An anticipated 200 immigrants from the New Milford area will attend, some telling stories of their lives coming to and living in America.

The Counsel Generals of Ecuador and of Peru have been invited. Translation devices will be available for members of the audience who do not speak Spanish.

The Rev. Paul Fleck serves as co-chairman for theNew York Annual United Methodist ChurchConference Task Force on Immigration.

He was asked to hold Sunday's forum by the organization United Action Connecticut. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served.

Car, dump truck collide in New Milford

 The police department's Traffic Reconstruction Team was called to the site of a head-on collision between a compact car and a dump truck Saturday at 1:50 p.m., police confirmed.

The crash occurred at the intersection of Kent Road (Route 7) and Boardman Road, when a south-bound dump truck traveling on Kent Road attempted to pass a second vehicle turning right turn into a tag sale ahead of it, police said.

In attempting to pass, the dump truck driven byWilliam Christman III of New Milford struck a northbound sedan head-on, police said.

The male driver of the sedan, John Hearn of Dover Plains, N.Y., was transported to Danbury Hospital in serious condition, police said.