One of the most difficult things about living in China has been being far from family and friends in their hour of need. When tragedy hits, our human instinct is to press into each other for support and to process tragedy together. That is hard to do from 10,000 miles away.
Thursday afternoon right after third period I saw Julie had sent me a short email, “News from home. Come see me as soon as possible.”
I knew it couldn’t be good.
I went down to the second floor health office where I had to wait for Julie to finish tending to a skinned knee and take the temperature of two other students. Done, she turned to me.
“Ken Wood was killed in a car accident this morning.”
I was dumbfounded.
Ken is Julie’s brother-in-law. He was married to Julie’s sister Kathy. Ken was 59 years old.
Ken had been driving his pickup truck near their home town of Iola Texas and had pulled over to retrieve something from the road side. He had just gotten back into the truck when it was broadsided by a large dual-axel pick-up truck with a trailer.
Julie’s brother Michael happened to be in Texas visiting Ken and Kathy and was in the truck with Ken. The truck rolled after it had been hit, but Michael was able to walk away with a few cuts and bruises.
Ken is survived by a daughter from his first marriage as well as Kathy's adult children Shannon and Shaun.
Ken was a gifted story teller, a licensed auctioneer, a tea-toller, an avid Dr. Pepper drinker, an ardent supporter of Texas independence, and a committed Christian husband and stepfather. In his younger days he worked on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. He only wore black t-shirts, never, ever wore shorts, always carried a Leatherman pocketknife on his belt, and never, ever smiled for pictures. Ken could fix, make, or build anything. One year, Ken made a park bench out of an old fire hose as a Christmas gift. It has to be seen to be believed.
Ken and Kathy had been married for over twenty years. Ken and Kathy didn’t like being apart from each other and were rarely separated. If Ken had to run into town to go to Walmart, Kathy almost invariably jumped in the truck with him. It’s really hard to imagine Kathy without Ken near her side.
Kathy’s love language is giving gifts. And Ken was always there to support her in her latest extravagant over-the-top endeavor. Right before we left for China, Julie’s family threw us quite the shindig. (Considering that Julie is one of eight children, it’s impossible for them to do anything on a small scale.) Ken and Kathy made -and then hauled all the way from Texas to Chicago- a full-scale Chinese dragon –like the ones used for Chinese dragon dances. They had made the huge head out of recycled electrical conduit, fabric, spray insulating foam, and two large Styrofoam balls. It was amazing. Honestly, it put to shame some of the dragons I have seen over here. Knowing that we couldn’t take it with us to China, several of the adult nieces who are teachers were arguing over who would get to “store” it for us in her classroom.
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