Let me begin by offering the sympathy and union of prayers of all the Brothers of the Province of the United States of America and my own personal condolences as well.
And thank you to all who came to the wake and this funeral Mass; thanks for the joy that the family brought with them as we celebrate a man who brought so much joy to others through his music, his painting and sculpture and his good heart.
Sometimes love reawakens when a family member dies. In our grief we return to the beginning, and dust off old photos to glimpse the course of a life. The pictures of youth are flooded with light. There are celebrations and journeys. The work of a lifetime is daunting. Faces age, and new lives tumble into the pictures. There is so much to remember. One person’s life is more than we can grasp. Our grief gives way to wonder.
When people travel from New York and New Jersey to Massachusetts to pay their respects, we know that a person’s life has had an impact. Ken loved life; he loved people, family and above all his life as a Marist, all 63 years of it. He brought his gifts from Methuen to Chicago, to Florida, to New York, to his alma mater, and to his beloved Camp Marist in New Hampshire, where his artistic talents and love for life had full reign.
The photos that adorned the funeral home, the stories punctuated with laughter that brought a lightness to the usual somberness of a wake, the presence of so many: all served as a testimony to Ken’s legacy and to his fidelity to who he was, to his vows, and to his God.
May he rest in peace.
– Br. Rene Roy, FMS
