Friday, December 13, 2019
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I have many fond memories of Ken...and although we were co-workers, most of these were outside of work. We watched many a football game together on the weekend in the late 80's and 90's. Ken served a stint in Atlanta as a bartender and introduced me to a tasty drink I had never had - the White Russian! He was an extraordinary boater and handyman, having been served in the Coast Guard. He chastised me when I called the lines on my boat "ropes," refreshed my memory on how to tie a bowline, and taught me the rules about buoys ("red, right, return"). Ken helped me multiple times to keep my pesky boats up and running. I remember once he disassembled and reassembled my throttle mechanism, when I couldn't reliably go in reverse. On another occasion, in the midst of my annual lake party, suddenly my engine refused to start...ughh! He quickly diagnosed the problem - a blown fuse inside the outboard engine (I had no clue there were fuses inside the engine!). Since it was after hours, and no stores were open to acquire more fuses, he simply put a piece of tin foil in where the fuse was supposed to go and voila!...a fix for the evening! He was always cheerful and willing to help a friend. We had lots of good times on Lake Hartwell with your kids when they were young. The attached is a picture from one time when we ventured to Santee State Park down south of Columbia. Ken was in his element! The two rascals in the back are Kenny (with the shorter hair) and my oldest son Matthew. RIP buddy. Hope they have some good fishin' up where you are! I shall be sipping on a White Russian thinking about you soon (one jigger vodka, one jigger Kahlua, big glass of whole milk or half and half and a few cubes of ice like you taught me!)
