For my best friend...

Ken’s loss has hit me hard and I often find it tough to concentrate on writing due to the overwhelming sorrow that comes over me when I think back to the wonderful moments we enjoyed together. But it is important that I share with all of Ken’s family and other friends the wonderful Friendship Ken gave to me.

I have known Ken for 35 years and we first met while serving in the US Army in Frankfurt, Germany. We were both on the European Assignment team and worked together from April 1973 until I was discharged in June of 1974. It was during this time that our special “Bond” of friendship took place. We seemed to hit it off right away. We both enjoyed sports, outdoor adventure, laughing, not taking “the Army life” so seriously, old WC Fields movies and of course Mark Twain short stories. We also discovered that we both were born in Pittsburgh so naturally Pirates and Steeler fans by birth!

Ken and I both had German girlfriends and although he eventually broke up with his girlfriend I ended up marrying mine. Gerda and I have been married 33 years and Ken has always been a welcome guest at our house. I will never forget my wedding day when I was standing at the Church in Phoenix, Arizona and then suddenly a brown VW Carmen Ghia pulls up and out steps Ken and Pat. They had driven all the way from Fullerton to make Gerda’s and my wedding. They went to my parents’ house to freshen up and made it back for the ceremony. I was honored.

Gerda and I lived in Phoenix for 5 years before returning to Frankfurt, Germany in 1981 and where we live to this day. We had visited Ken twice before moving and Ken had been over to visit us about 5 times. Each time was a wonderful experience and as I mentioned since our time together was so short we always packed as much quality time in as we could. It was a distant relationship but a loving one. We often called each other and even our phone calls were important to us since we could always talk about things with each other and there was always a good sense of trust and caring. I will always look back on our times and can really say that I was blessed to have Ken as a true Friend. He will always be with me the rest of my life.

Rick Fry