Kevin’s obit, copied from HERE is at the bottom of this post.
May 12th, I lost a brother, but it wasn’t until last weekend that I could really talk about it or even think about it. The whole family got together, me, Jimmy, Christine, Satoyoshi-san and most of the Kootnekoff clan (that we know of since Kevy’s dad, George, was a very busy man). We drank the weekend away, told stories and most importantly, were able to start the healing process.
Kevin was and continues to be a great influence on my life. We had a very special relationship although towards the end as he was starting to be overcome by Cancer, I can understand why he pushed everyone away.
Things I’ve learned from Kevy, they always make me laugh:
One day while lamenting my situation, Kevin put it all into perspective. He attributed his grandmother in the saying, “you gotta piss with the cock you have”.
Ten years ago, Kevin told me a story of a car sales incident. Kevin worked in car sales, so I can only presume that the issue was to do with a buyer, but really, it could have been Kevin on the purchasing end. Either way, the conversation revolved around the vehicle. The person on the other side of the negotiation was also male and every time a question was asked, he’d hit Kevin in the pecker. Kevin surmised from this activity that the person might have been gay but that’s a different story. Finally, Kevin asked the other fellow, “would you stop hitting my dick?” after which the activity stopped.
Kevin recounted the time when he used to live in the West End of Vancouver. Jimmy, his younger brother, came to visit so Kevin decided to take his brother out for a beer. Kevin and Jimmy were both broke so Jimmy questioned the activity citing that they had no funds. The sage Kevin replied, just watch. They both anted up to a bar called Buddy’s and started to shoot the breeze. It was only a couple minutes before a couple drinks arrived to their table. The barmaid pointed to two other gentlemen sitting across the bar. Kevin said to Jim, “just nod and smile” which they both proceeded to do.
Apparently it’s not only women who get drinks bought for them. You just have to show up at the gay bar on your street.
One time, while riding with Kevy down Hwy. 1 (before the HOV lane was built), it occurred to me that we were holding up traffic as we were in the left lane. I mentioned this to Kevy to which he responded, “aww fuck ‘em.” After that, I noticed that most of the cars simply switched lanes and passed on the right.
A couple years ago, Kevin came to visit me. I was wearing a DKNY pair of jeans that had the heavily worn look. Kevin commented that when he was my age, once his jeans looked like that, he’d throw them away. I wore those jeans to Kevy’s memorial in Qualicum last weekend.
I worked with Kevin for a small stint at Regency Mazda. After work, Kevin would send me across the street to the Biltmore Hotel to buy a six-pack of beer from their offsales. We’d sit in the back area of the dealership, enjoy the beers, tell tales of the day in sales.
Anything Kevy said, Kevy would do. You could always count on him to get a job done. In the end, Kevin’s greatest lesson was that his word was bond. I admired this in him from the start and learned alot from his demonstration of integrity.
For all of the above, for his time, his interest in my life, his advice, his caring and love, well, that’s why I call Kevin my brother.
Be well big bro, wherever you are.
