Thank you to Jody who telephoned to let me know this sad and shocking news. With moving to a new house and Mark's dad here I haven't been reading my Joni digests at all for about a month now. Jody also directed me to Les's site with the moving memorial to Kenny and I've been reading everyone's comforting thoughts and memories. Kenny and I emailed in the beginning mostly about freebies. I was saving UPCs and labels off food to get stuff for my family. Kenny actually asked me to send him a list of what I was looking for and he went through his kitchen & bathroom cabinets pulling these things off and sending them to me. Just the thought of this man going around his home pulling off UPCs and labels endeared him to me. I don't believe too many guys would do this......and willingly. So, thanks to him I got some 'free' coupons and shared them with him too........like Blockbuster and free meat coupons that Kenny liked because he used those in cooking. He had sent me an unbelievable spaghetti sauce recipe .........I'd never seen anything so long.......the real stuff.........not bottled Prego with some garlic and sugar added. His spaghetti sauce was an all day affair in the kitchen! Those rare times I'd delurk to add my thoughts to the list Kenny would always acknowledge what I had to say....either to the list or privately.........even coming to my rescue when I was being verbally attacked. When I finally did meet Kenny in person at Ashara's last year (1999 JoniFest) I wasn't surprised to find he was as warm a person in the flesh as in his emails and I spent quite some time talking with him. It was there at Ashara's that he shared that he had recently had a heart attack and so had lost weight eating alot of chicken and was working on a healthier lifestyle at the same time dealing with some major stressful events going on in his life and around him. I was really impressed by his willpower to diet the way he did. That's why losing Kenny is so shocking. He was actively working on his health and he was young.........he had a whole other half of his life ahead of him. Whenever I hear Michael Paz's version of Song for Sharon I think of Kenny. I remember we were sitting together at the bar at Atty May's surrounded by our JMDL family and Michael started playing this beautiful music and singing the words in his deep voice. When he had finished playing Kenny and I looked at each other with wet eyes, both moved. It was so beautiful! We talked alot at Atty Mays (sometimes shouting when the music got really loud) ......and Kenny kept apologizing for talking so much....... though I kept reassuring him there were other places I could be sitting if I wanted to! I was happy to finally talk with him one on one.... and like old friends we had alot of catching up to do......there was alot to talk about................everything from Joni and our families to our chocolate obsession and our teeth! I'm going to miss Kenny alot. My belated sympathy and prayers go out to all his family and friends. Laura
