Ken served in the Army as a communications specialist. He served in Vietnam for 13 months. He passed away in May of 1995 of injuries received in an auto accident.
I went to school with Kenny at Hartwell Elem in 1953 and later Woodward High. I guess it was in the 4th or 5th grade that I would go to his house. A time you could walk for miles or ride your bike and nobody went looking for you. It was unheard of to go missing; you were just some place else and would come home later.
Anyway, I liked Kenny a lot. It was a long distance in 1955 going to his house on the other side of Vine Street towards Carthage. He lived in a nice little brick house that his mother kept very neat. I thought his dad was very smart because he would ask Kenny and I what we had found outside when we got back. He would talk to us about it, he was interested, although we might not have told him everything we did. It was a place to feel "smart" and Kenny had an interest in all the new and exciting things we had heard about. "Satellites". My mother gave me my first telescope because we talked about it so much. There might have only been the Russian satellite at that time.
Today I keep the nice rocks Kenny and I found on the "Mill Creek". They have a Bluish Green (Chrysocolla) type mineral in them. Although there might have been anything in it! It actually was the "mill" plant run off creek and searching the Mill Creek at that time might have been our most dangerous trips together. Jumping into the pool where Vine Street passed over the creek wasn't too smart either. But the safe place was next to Kenny's house in a small "wash off" creek where we would hunt salamanders, turtles, frogs and anything else we could find. Once we ran into what we thought was a Cotton Mouth snake...maybe it was just a water snake but it had a white mouth as it coiled up at us.
I still have 6/7 Black and White photos at the park of Kenny in them. Mr Deter's took the 5th grade class to it and I recently showed them to several people in our class when I learned Kenny had passed. If only we had the ability and grace to go back to those who helped us change in some degree and tell them what they meant to us in that time.
We changed schools, classes and interest as we move forward and Kenny and I lost touch with each other. But I have never forgot him. I thought he smiled a lot but maybe we were just having fun together.
Everett McIntosh
I went to school with Kenny at Hartwell Elem in 1953 and later Woodward High. I guess it was in the 4th or 5th grade that I would go to his house. A time you could walk for miles or ride your bike and nobody went looking for you. It was unheard of to go missing; you were just some place else and would come home later.
Anyway, I liked Kenny a lot. It was a long distance in 1955 going to his house on the other side of Vine Street towards Carthage. He lived in a nice little brick house that his mother kept very neat. I thought his dad was very smart because he would ask Kenny and I what we had found outside when we got back. He would talk to us about it, he was interested, although we might not have told him everything we did. It was a place to feel "smart" and Kenny had an interest in all the new and exciting things we had heard about. "Satellites". My mother gave me my first telescope because we talked about it so much. There might have only been the Russian satellite at that time.
Today I keep the nice rocks Kenny and I found on the "Mill Creek". They have a Bluish Green (Chrysocolla) type mineral in them. Although there might have been anything in it! It actually was the "mill" plant run off creek and searching the Mill Creek at that time might have been our most dangerous trips together. Jumping into the pool where Vine Street passed over the creek wasn't too smart either. But the safe place was next to Kenny's house in a small "wash off" creek where we would hunt salamanders, turtles, frogs and anything else we could find. Once we ran into what we thought was a Cotton Mouth snake...maybe it was just a water snake but it had a white mouth as it coiled up at us.
I still have 6/7 Black and White photos at the park of Kenny in them. Mr Deter's took the 5th grade class to it and I recently showed them to several people in our class when I learned Kenny had passed. If only we had the ability and grace to go back to those who helped us change in some degree and tell them what they meant to us in that time.
We changed schools, classes and interest as we move forward and Kenny and I lost touch with each other. But I have never forgot him. I thought he smiled a lot but maybe we were just having fun together.
Everett McIntosh
Ken Ellison
THANK YOU!