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From Ken's wife… 10/22/21 I regret to have to report that Ken passed away at 12:50 p.m. this afternoon. I was holding his hand, and had just read a tribute sent to him by one of is sons. Ken was tended to by some angels from the Hope Hospice organization under whose care he'd enrolled 9/26/21. He was handled with the respect due such a man, and was carried out under the cover of a Nembutsu Dharani blanket gifted to us for him, wearing his black Samari Spirit cap and "Have Dharma Will Travel" t-shirt, and plaid (he was Irish after all) lounge pants. In his hands were the fur from one of his favorite Aussies who passed several years ago (Cisco Bob), and one of his Buddhist rosaries. Upon his chest was laid one of his Jodoshinshu surpluses bearing embroidered Wisteria, the symbol of his sect. Incense was burning on his altar, and a recording of the recitation of the name of Amitaba Buddha was playing.
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Gordon Gibson
Kenneth and I took a chemistry class together and discovered that mixing a penny (copper) with nitric acid produces nitrogen dioxide gas which is full of nitrogen and great for plants. The next time I saw Kenneth he told me that he had released nitric dioxide gas in the walkway leading to his house and most of the plants there almost double in size in a few days. Needless to say, we were both surprised.
The last time I talked to Kenneth, he was working as a Unix Software Programmer for the San Jose Rosicrucian Museum.
While Kenneth and I had limited contact, he was always congenial.
Waul Allen McMahan
Ken lived a few blocks from me, back in the day, and I hung out at his house quite a bit. I vivedly remember his father accidently cutting off his own fingers with a power saw, and how that shook Ken up. We took mostly the same courses through high school, but later clearly followed divergent paths. He was interested in eastern religions early on. He also taught me ethnic jokes and slurs that I had no idea about, I think from his dad who was kind of east coast old school.
Carol House (Bellah)
Ken and I talked a lot over the years, especially in the last twenty or so, by email, phone and FB. He first contacted me looking for Waul McMahon, thinking because I was tasked with the job of finding classmates for several of our reunions I might know how he could get in touch with Waul. We ended up staying in touch through FaceBook mostly and the occasional email or phone call. They were always interesting conversations, conversations I will miss. Fly high Ken..... you will be missed