Looking back on my high school years, there are some classmates I remember and remember very well. Others I only vaguely remember and some I don’t remember at all. Unfortunately, Ken Hammack falls into the last category. Following our last reunion, I decided to build a website with the hope it could help keep us closer together. Ken found the website and began corresponding with me. Quickly, I checked through my annuals and sure enough there he was but his face rang no bells with me. As our correspondence continued, he began to send me some of his poetry and I realized not only what a “poet from the heart” he was but also that he was a very strong Christian man.
Every now and then Ken would send me an email and on the day I received it, I’d be having one of “those days” and in my response to him I would mention it was not a good day for me. Immediately he would answer and I began to see how mail from Ken was always going to lift my spirits one way or another. His compassion and understanding were overwhelming. We became good friends through our emails - by exchanging what was going on in our lives at that time. Last year was exceptionally hard for Ken because his beloved wife Myrna was experiencing some very serious health problems which he shared with me. The strong faith the two of them had pulled them through that time and Ken started writing poetry again. When I decided to build a new page for the website which would require old pictures of classmates, I sent out a request for people to send me pictures. Ken was one of the very few who actually sent me a picture and you can find it on this page: The Quiz
In the last few emails I received from him, he talked a lot about how much he was looking forward to attending our 45th reunion as he had never gone to any of them. And I too was looking forward to him attending because I could finally get to meet him in person. But that was not to be. The last email I got from him was a beautiful email card for my birthday which was a big surprise because I didn’t realize he knew when my birthday was. It was the kind of thing I came to expect from Ken because he was always so very thoughtful. When Linda Sallee Perkins passed away, Ken wrote a poem in her honor. Because he didn't know her, he was concerned some may be offended that he assumed to write a poem about her. I thought it was amazing that he wanted to write about her and told him how compassionate it was of him to do that for her.
I don’t think we can ever have too many friends. The wonderful thing is that friendship can develop from the most unexpected places. I am so grateful that I got to know Ken - even if it was many years after our time in high school together. For some people, high school reunions are just a waste of time and they don’t want to be bothered. But for others, like me, it is a time to renew old and precious friendships and also a time to finally get to know those we never knew very well or not at all. No one else in the world can share high school memories like fellow classmates. Whether it was a great and joyous time or a “not so good” time, high school was a time in our lives that was one of a kind and will never come again.
Ken Hammack was one of a kind and will never come again. I am disappointed that I will never have the pleasure of meeting him but feel so grateful to have known him.
Bobbie Bolton Burnett