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Last Goodbye to Kenny and his mystery – 10-29-09
A Waiting Room.
The faces
Familiar yet grown old
Remembered times
Among us
And now a story’s told.
Its Kenny
Back in high school,
Now walking the
West Side,
A movie maven,
Uncle,
And yet
Something to hide.
Behind the face
That’s smiling
With jovial
Good cheer,
Through patted backs
staccato jokes
its little
but its here.
Its in the room
Its in the hall
Its laying in the bed
Its hovering
By the covers
Unspoken
And unsaid.
The hospital’s
A hospice
And Kenny is the guest.
No questions now,
Just lightness.
Behaving at one’s best.
No queries
Of the leading man
Just let the pat hand lay.
Talk about the weather
The hot news of the day.
And then I’m gone
Back in my car
For a very long ride home
Then Kenny leaves
And I am left
With memories. . .
And a poem.
Jerry Tuckman
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Gerald Tuckman
Gerald Tuckman
From Facebook: 2012 Kenneth J. Feldman Memorial Scholarship - Lynbrook High School - presented to Teresa Infante
From Jim Trecker, Kenny's college roommate at Columbia and lifelong friend.
Ken Feldman
Without question, Ken Feldman crafted one of the most satisfying lives imaginable. He achieved his goals and lived out his dreams in a way that was entirely his and was on his own timeframe. He did it his way.
His years at Lynbrook and then Columbia laid the foundation for a rich and varied life experience that included extensive travel, love of literature, love of teaching, love of music, and a love of learning.
Ken taught English for many years in the New York City school system, winning Teacher of the Year honors and later becoming a highly sought-after administrator because of his problem-solving abilities. Even when he finally retired, he wasn’t really allowed to as his skills were always in demand.
But it was away from the classroom and away from the workforce that Ken really flourished. He was a voracious reader and was always on top of the literary world. He was a devotee of opera, too, frequently joining with friends to see the Metropolitan’s latest efforts.
But, there are really two things that define Ken in his post-high school days: the movies and the Mets. He saw just about every movie that was ever released and was an encyclopedic source of movie information. As one person noted, he was Google before Google was invented.
He was at opening day at Shea in 1964, at closing day at Shea in 2008 and hundreds of times in between. He was a true fan, sticking with the team through the many lean years, but always with a cheerful “wait till next year” outlook.
In fact, cheerful might be the best way of describing Ken. Always with a welcoming smile and a kind word, he moved through life effortlessly at his own rhythm, attracting countless friends along the way.
He had a life well lived; he had a life that lifted up everyone who came in contact with him.