{"id":102209,"date":"2023-10-07T11:07:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-07T17:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=102209"},"modified":"2023-10-07T11:07:38","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T17:07:38","slug":"happy-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Kenneth<\/a>
My brother Kenneth, gone too soon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today is my brother\u2019s birthday. \u00a0He would have been eighty-one this year, which is very difficult for me to imagine. \u00a0I\u2019m sorry to say that, more than a few times while he was alive, I completely forgot it until three or four days had passed. \u00a0No longer, though. \u00a0Now that it\u2019s too late, I have a pre-programed reminder on my cellphone. \u00a0(I wish such things had come along a bit earlier.) \u00a0His widow passed away a few months ago after a brief bout with cancer, so that generation of my nuclear family is now completely gone.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve explained here before, one of the reasons that I maintain this blog is to memorialize, to remember, those that I\u2019ve lost. \u00a0I\u2019m determined, while I survive, that they will not be forgotten. \u00a0Of course, the occasional scarcely-noticed blog entry is, at best, a rather wan imitation of immortality. \u00a0If I were not convinced of a robustly non-metaphorical immortality, a mere note on a blog would scarcely remedy its absence. \u00a0\u201cIf in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just one story: \u00a0He was roughly ten years older than I was and, one summer when I was in high school, we decided to partner in a way of earning some extra money. \u00a0There was a petroleum-based product called JetSeal that was used primarily to fill cracks in asphalt. \u00a0It could also be used, however, in severely diluted form, to blacken and seemingly refresh asphalt parking lots and driveways. \u00a0I don\u2019t think that it did much real good, but it looked nice. \u00a0We would frankly explain that to people, but they would still opt for our services \u2014 their asphalt driveways looked brand-new when we were finished \u2014 and we were busy on most weekends one summer. \u00a0We laughed about writing a memoir under the title How We Made a Fortune with Dirty Water<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He bought an early-machine-age pickup that we used, for the princely sum of $25, and that truck was worth absolutely every cent that he laid out for it. \u00a0I practically had to stand on the running board pouring oil into the engine as we drove. \u00a0The main trouble was that, after a Saturday spent applying JetSeal, we smelled as if we had been marinating for a week or two in the La Brea Tar Pits. \u00a0And no amount of showering and scrubbing would entirely remove the stench. \u00a0It severely damaged my social life that summer, and we didn\u2019t repeat it the next year.<\/p>\n

Here is the obituary that Kenneth\u2019s wife and children prepared at his death:<\/p>\n

Kenneth Dee Walters was born to Evan Dee Walters and Berniece Olive Harper on October 7, 1942 at St. Vincent\u2019s Hospital in Los Angeles, California. In June of the following year, Kenneth\u2019s father passed away. After Evan\u2019s death, Berniece\u2019s mother Olive Harper came to California from St. George to help care for Kenneth while Berniece worked. Every summer, Olive returned to St. George with Kenneth, where they lived for a few months with Olive\u2019s son Ross Harper, his wife Floy, and their children. Six years after Evan passed away, when his mother remarried in June, 1949, Kenneth gained another father in Carl Peter Peterson. Kenneth\u2019s brother Daniel Peterson joined the family in 1953, and Kenneth has been a fan of Danny ever since. When Kenneth was a teenager, he began to join Carl and the Harpers at Grassy Flats in Southern Utah for the annual deer hunt. He always had fond memories of deer camp and his relatives in Utah, and he held onto those memories in part through a life-long interest in firearms, which he collected up to the end of his life. Kenneth studied at Mt. San Antonio College, U.S.C., and BYU, where he finished a bachelor\u2019s degree in political science and attended law school. Immediately after law school, he joined Carl at E.C. Construction, a general engineering contracting company that specializes in asphalt and concrete paving. The company\u2019s official colors inspired Kenneth\u2019s lasting patriotism to the color orange. His son John will now run E.C. Construction in his absence. During his year of study at Mt. San Antonio College, Kenneth met Sandra Lynn Hartshorn, and the two were married by a judge on May 11, 1965, in a Catholic church on July 30, 1965, and in the Los Angeles LDS temple on February 26, 1970. They had four children: Sarah of San Antonio Texas, Matthew of Elwood Utah, Melissa who passed away at birth, and John of Whittier. For 37 years until he passed away, Kenneth carried in his wallet a photograph of Melissa. Kenneth coached the little league team of his brother Danny, two soccer teams, and three little league teams of his sons. He was also highly involved with scouting. Among the first of his life\u2019s accomplishments, he lists earning the rank of Eagle Scout, and joining the Order of the Arrow. Kenneth attended one National Jamboree in 1957 as a scout, and another in 1985 as an assistant scout master. He was a Cub Master for two years, received the Wood Badge Adult Training Award, and was designated a James E. West Fellow of the San Gabriel Valley Council. Kenneth was particularly supportive of his sons\u2019 scouting, and would likely have disowned them had they not earned the rank of Eagle. Kenneth enjoyed traveling. He took his wife and kids across North America with an R.V. trailer a number of times, and took the kids boating at Lake Mojave or Lake Powell every year from the 1970s through 2012. When his kids married and began families of their own, he continued to invite them, their wives, and his grandkids to Lake Mojave and other places, thus serving as the primary mover for family get-togethers for many years. Church and community service were central to Kenneth\u2019s life. He served as chairman of the Coolidge School Parents Advisory Committee, and on the South El Monte Business Council. In the church, he served in Young Men\u2019s and Elder\u2019s Quorum presidencies, on the stake high council, and in three bishoprics, including several years as Bishop of the San Marino Ward. Throughout his life, whenever help was needed, Kenneth established a reputation for responding and getting things done. This willingness to serve and to give of himself is what his wife and children consider to be his defining attribute.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Beyond his full name and dates, his tombstone in the San Gabriel Cemetery (which is situated partly in both San Marino and San Gabriel, California) reads, simply and very appropriately,<\/p>\n

A life of service
\nMatthew 25:40<\/p>\n

That scriptural reference, of course, is to this famous passage:<\/p>\n

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It fits him extremely well. \u00a0I admired him enormously, and I miss him every single day.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Today is my brother\u2019s birthday. \u00a0He would have been eighty-one this year, which is very difficult for me to imagine. \u00a0I\u2019m sorry to say that, more than a few times while he was alive, I completely forgot it until three or four days had passed. \u00a0No longer, though. \u00a0Now that it\u2019s too late, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":18940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5880,936,9233,21922,5877,2532],"class_list":["post-102209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brother","tag-daniel-peterson","tag-kenneth","tag-kenneth-dee-walters","tag-kenneth-walters","tag-peterson"],"yoast_head":"\nHappy Birthday!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Today is my brother's birthday. \u00a0He would have been eighty-one this year, which is very difficult for me to imagine. \u00a0I'm sorry to say that,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy Birthday!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Today is my brother's birthday. \u00a0He would have been eighty-one this year, which is very difficult for me to imagine. \u00a0I'm sorry to say that,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-07T17:07:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/03\/2453802_300x300.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html\",\"name\":\"Happy Birthday!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-07T17:07:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-07T17:07:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    Today is my brother's birthday. \u00a0He would have been eighty-one this year, which is very difficult for me to imagine. \u00a0I'm sorry to say that,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Happy Birthday!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Happy Birthday!","description":"    Today is my brother's birthday. \u00a0He would have been eighty-one this year, which is very difficult for me to imagine. \u00a0I'm sorry to say that,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Happy Birthday!","og_description":"    Today is my brother's birthday. \u00a0He would have been eighty-one this year, which is very difficult for me to imagine. \u00a0I'm sorry to say that,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2023-10-07T17:07:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/03\/2453802_300x300.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html","name":"Happy Birthday!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-07T17:07:38+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-07T17:07:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    Today is my brother's birthday. \u00a0He would have been eighty-one this year, which is very difficult for me to imagine. \u00a0I'm sorry to say that,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/10\/happy-birthday.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Happy Birthday!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}