Memorial Day

Our dear friend Kenneth Sackey was murdered on Memorial Day weekend in the Bronx. They said it was some sort of altercation earlier in the weekend and they had basically followed him going home from the family barbeque. Kenny ran for his life and eventually they caught him in a building and shot him. He was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Barnabas. So far police have no leads as to who murdered him.

Kenny worked at the hotel. He's been there close to a year. He was a security guard for the hotel, always came to work with a genuine smile on his face and a real happiness seeing people he knew and liked. He was funny, he was smart, and he always had a good Navy story or some other life ridiculousness type of anecdote (sp). He did his job well and he got along with everyone. He always made me laugh, he listened to what I had to say and when it came to the job he respected my position and his responsibility. He had my back when guests became out of hand and he threw out the ones that I deemed no good for the hotel. He did it with a sense of humor and never let anything get too him, not for too long anyway.

It was a short blurb in the newspaper. The newspaper left out that his birthday was only celebrated 3 days before his death. Nor will others know that he served in the US Navy for a good decade, travelling all over the world while he was enlisted. They will never know how he just broke up with his girlfriend because she wasn't good for him. They didn't know that after being a security guard for so long that he finally caught a break. He was going to be an engineer at the hotel. He applied for the open position and got it. The hotel was going to send him to school so he could be an even better engineer. He took the FSD class and the exams all on his own so that when he does get on shift for Engineering, he could be the FSD on duty too. The Chief already agreed to have him do his on site test at the Pmt. He was starting that week. I told him get ready because the place is a nightmare, things always breaking down and he knew I'd be demanding. He walked with people to their train stops and bus stations because it was late at night. He offered to get food for me because he knew I am always too busy to eat lunch. He played pranks on me on slow days. He used to twirl the keys in the lobby and I was worried he'd hit me in the eye because that cord was just too damn long. He had an infectious laugh and when he figured out what no good you were up to, he poked fun at you for it and all you could do was laugh. Jose said he thought of me as a little sister and Kenny always paid me a compliments saying I didn't belong at my position because I work too hard and I was too good to take this kind of abuse. He also said I was the right height to be a fighter pilot because if I ever had to eject, I wouldn't hit my head on the way out. The last compliment he paid me, he said he never said that I was pretty and that sometimes he hears the heavenly bells when he sees me. The last time I saw him, he was coming into work [late *snicker*] and he was all dressed in a lighter blue with matching shoes and a big old smile on his face. And I had pointed at him from across the street and he laughed out loud. I didn't get to see him the last day he worked at the Pmt because he was up doing the detects and I was leaving late again and I just figured I'd see him next week when he started at Engineering. The following Tuesday morning was one of the worst days I've had.

Kenny, rest in peace my friend. I hope you knew that people respected you and will miss you terribly now that you're gone. That smile and that laugh will always be missed. Say hi to your mom and hi to mine please.

1800 hrs.