We attended the memorial service for Jim Kettlewell at Chautauqa Park and Memorial Garden this afternoon. It seems all his friends felt they'd always known him, yet he'd only been a part of our Lakeside community for 6 years. He'd joined the Navy right out of high school and one person said it's perhaps there he learned to get along with all different types. It's definitely where he learned the bakery business. He was a vice president of Nickles Bakery of Navarre, Ohio, and many of us remember his fascinating talk about the technology and marketing of bakery products he gave during one of our final weeks of the season, and sent us home with loaves of raisin bread. I've been buying Nickles products ever since. He was just that engaging.
I sat beside him Thursday afternoon at a book review, and saw him that night across the room at Hoover Auditorium with some of his grandchildren. I heard the ambulance Friday morning when I was on my walk, but that it might be Jim never occurred to me. In recent years, since retirement, he'd been taking classes at Kent, and I'm sure the young students who sat beside him in class gained as much as those of us who sat beside him in Lakeside lectures. He was an avid reader and writer, and in retirement began writing poetry. He'd been planning to go to Ireland in a few days with his wife and a few friends, but we wish him the best on this latest trip and adventure which no one expected (died in his sleep 3 days ago).
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2 comments:
My sympathies on the loss of your friend. That's a young age... must have been a shock to his family. One day closer for all of us. Take care.
Thanks, Paula. I hope the community continues to tell Jim stories so his grandchildren can hang on to the memories.
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