A man died April 6, 2003. Under other circumstances, this might appear as nothing more than a note in the local obituaries. At times a man passes that is more than a fact in the journals of recorded history. Such a man was Bill Kinney. Since his last day on this earth, I heard a similar tune from his family members, those he supervised and those that were members of Trinity United Methodist Church. The universal verse was that “He made me feel as if I was the most important person on earth.”

Because of this simple trait, Bill became a leader of his business, his family and his church. People that knew him grew to love him. People that worked for him, felt he cared as much about them as the work that needed to be done. Members of his family, including his extended family, looked to him for guidance. Members of his church depended on him for his strength, humor, compassion and sincerity.

Bill Kinney affected a multitude without deliberate intention. His formula was simple. Treat people with decency and respect, do things that needed doing and expect nothing in return. He was a leader that people followed without hesitation.

Bill was my uncle by marriage. I found him to be direct, loving and funny. He set an example of what it meant to be a good and decent human being, without realizing he was doing so. I know I looked up to him. I hoped one day that I could be as good a father and approach the decency with which he lived his life. I loved him as much as I love my own father. Reality says that I am not his equal by any measure, but his standard of living gave me something I could appreciate.

As I helped carry the casket of this man I had known for 27 years, I did not see the outer shell that sickness, injury and medical mistakes had created. I saw the spirit of a man who became a father figure to my wife when her own father did not care enough. I felt the humor and kindness of the man who rolled his mother in law around the block in the wheel chair he called “Her Cadillac”. I watched him help a small boy walk whose muscles did not work right. I wondered at the little dark haired baby girl who could not see rock back and forth on his knees laughing with glee. I saw a little boy who learned to go potty in his trailer. I heard my daughter play a violin piece that she wanted to play for him as she said good bye with the last stroke of the bow.

These are just some of the moments that I observed with Bill and my own wife and children. What is remarkable is that while we were part of his extended family, there are other stories just as remarkable, from the lives Bill Kinney touched. I am still amazed at the emotions poured on paper by Kailey, his grand daughter. It was as an experience of a lifetime to hear those words that were penned with the maturity and clarity of someone 20 years her senior as they were read by the minister at his funeral. She was inspired by his life and passing as were all of us who knew him. He died as he lived, by creating an aura of good will without deliberate intention.

09/14/2004

Author's Note: I wrote this as a letter to the editor about a man passing. He was my uncle by marriage, and so much more.

Posted on 09/14/2004
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