GOODBYE KEN

This is Ken. Ken and I had been friends for about 10 years when he came to me and suggested I apply for a job where he worked. I was hired. Ken was my mentor at the job. He was very smart. He worked hard and handled a lot of things with dignity and compassion. In 1994 he had a seizure. He was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. As his health began to decline I began to pick him up for work. He couldn't drive anymore. We would chat on the way and just as we would arrive at work often times he would say something very profound. We would just sit in the truck in silence while what he said sunk in. Very powerful and emotionally impactful. He came into my office one day and said "You know, life is like riding a wave. You try to pick the one that you think will give you to best ride. When you're up on the wave you don't have control of what the wave will do, you can only give it your best shot and ride it out until it's gone." I sat at my desk and thought about the metaphor after he left. A few moments later he came back into the room and said, "SURF'S UP!". How right he was. The Department threw a party when he retired. I took this photo of him there. He died shorty afterward. It was May 1994. He was in his 40's. I miss him.