Happy Birthday, Kaye Darwin Thomas

I worked with Kaye Thomas during all those library moves during the second phase of the library construction project.  Like most of my crew chiefs, he became my right hand in getting the work done quickly and with out too much drama.  He ran a tight crew- no "liquid lunches" like the Crest Movers of old.  We usually had the same guys on the job and that made it easier.  He was a former Marine, who had served in Korea.  He told me he had been blown out of a jeep and had a problem with his hip.  He talked about his family, how he had killed a man in a bar fight and was sent to jail because at the time Utah did not recognize self defense.  It took a year for him to be released and in that year he had told his wife to "make a life for herself" and their marriage ended.  I always got the sense he never stopped loving her.  He was proud of his granddaughter, who had followed his footsteps by joining the Corps.  How he wound up working for Crest Movers in downtown LA and living in a fleabag hotel is beyond me.  He was always neat as a pin and ready  to work.  I worried about him, he wasn't a young man and he wasn't in the best of health.  He was getting ready to go into the hospital, the VA, to get his hip replaced when he died.  He had a heart attack on the job, THANKFULLY not MY job, although I probably would have made him go to the hospital sooner if it had been one of my jobs. The guys told me he looked awful but he was a stubborn man and he told them he would be alright.  One member of his crew actually did CPR while waiting for the paramedics to show, but it was too late.  They called me to tell me while I was on vacation.  I asked about services and here's where it got bad.  BECAUSE he had no family who stepped forward, the County held is body to bury him in a pauper's grave.  I went NUTS!  The man was an honored member of our armed forces ( remember he was getting service from the VA, that meant he was honorably discharged).  I went to work on the Coroner's Office.  I was SUCH a pest, they declared me Friend of the Deceased, and gave me information regarding the plans.  They would NOT look into getting him a Military burial, until I was talking to a co-worker, crying in anger and frustration.  She had a cousin who worked for a County Supervisor.  Lo and Behold the VERY NEXT DAY, I get a call telling me they are releasing him to the military and giving me the name of the funeral home taking care of it.  Surprise, Surprise Surprise!   I called to find out about services, but was told that because there was no family, there would be none.  There would be an honor guard, but no one else was allowed to attend.  I started to cry.  There is an Irish tradition, that someone must shed tears for the dead.  I sobbed on the phone to the poor woman at the funeral home who said that she wasn't supposed to do this, but i could add an inscription to the headstone.  I looked at the paperwork she sent me and found that the words "dear friend Semper Fi" just fit in the space I was allowed. I wanted someone who visited his grave to know he was loved and honored.  I tried in vain to find his family.  I know he had a daughter he spoke of and his granddaughter, but was unable to find them.  I hope somehow they found out and have visited his grave.  I have visited twice, as my parents are also buried in Riverside National Cemetery.  I miss him and was honored to have called him a friend. 

So, wherever you are--Happy Birthday, Kaye.