For those of you that don’t know who I am, my name is Kyla and I am Kerry’s older sister. Thank you all for being here today. I know he would have been happy to know that all of you are here to honor his life.
When I was four years old, Little Kerry came into this world. I was way too young at that time to realize, but my life would be forever changed. I loved having a brother more than anything. Growing up, I was such a protective big sister. Even when I was annoyed that my little brother was following me around, or running along side of us on our bikes because he hadn’t quite learned how to ride his, I was still always looking out for him.
Kerry had the most nicknames out of any kid I knew. He was the messiest and grubbiest little kid. Running around still in a diaper trying to get ahold of any tasty snack, “Cheeto” became his first nickname. I think that derived from the orange Cheeto residue fingers he always had. After “Cheeto”, came “Dee-Dee boy”, shortly abbreviated to “Deeds”, to “brown bear” from his tanned summer skin, to his most recent adult nickname, the one that stuck, “KB3”.
When the officiant, Allison, asked me if I could come up with one thing that my brother was passionate about, I quickly answered “movies”. My brother loved movies. All kinds of movies: scary movies, action movies, dramas, and especially comedies. His love of movies started at a very young age. Kerry’s childhood room had a couch, blankets, a VCR, a couple opened boxes of CheezIts stashed, and I’m pretty sure every single Disney VHS tape ever made. Kerry’s older brother, Steven, and I would always watch movies in his room.
One of our favorite childhood movies was “Homeward Bound”. For those of you that haven’t seen this movie, first of all it’s a must see, so please watch it. It’s about 3 animals (2 dogs and a cat) that embark on a long trek through the wilderness in a quest to reach home and their beloved owners. As imaginative children, Steven, Kerry, and I would pretend we were the animals. Steven was “Shadow”, the wise old golden retriever, I was “Sassy”, the hilarious and mouthy Himalayan cat, and Kerry was “Chance”, the fun-loving and free spirited American bulldog pup. Now that I look back as an adult, it wasn’t as imaginative as I once believed. I think we all fit those roles pretty well. Just a few days before my brother passed, he agreed to watch our once favorited childhood movie with me and I feel very lucky to have experienced watching this with him one last time.
I wanted to share a more recent story about my brother. Even though my dad might not be overly thrilled with me sharing, I’m going to anyways. The day after Thanksgiving of last year, our family decided to go out for a steak dinner. I’m not exactly sure why we thought after stuffing our faces with a turkey, we should stuff our face with a cow the very next day, but we did. My dad ordered a prime rib and on his very first bite the piece of steak became lodged in his throat. My brother and I were at the end of the table in deep conversation. I heard a little piggy squealing noise, I looked at the end of the table to see my dad standing red faced with drool coming out of this mouth. Being in the medical field, I knew immediately that my dad was choking. I ran up behind him and with great technique attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him. With my dad being bigger than me, I wasn’t able to get a lot of force behind my attempt. Before I knew it, my brother was standing right next to me, without even flinching and with HORRIBLE technique, but great force, Kerry squeezed my dad as hard as he could. With a few cracked ribs, out came the piece of steak. We sat back down, but I was still so stressed and worked up over it all, I ordered a strong drink. I’ll never forget it, my brother lightly kicked me under the table and as I looked up he had a big grin on his face and calmly said “hey, let’s get some jackets made labeled ‘Holiday Heroes’ on the back”. I laughed and my stress quickly dissipated. For the remainder of my time in town, Kerry teased my dad, making comments about needing to puree his food. My brother had a way of making light of any situation and putting everyone at ease. I’m really going to miss that about him.
Speaking of steak, I have one last funny story to share. Four years ago our family went to Hawaii to celebrate my grandparents 59th wedding anniversary. My brother, my grandparents, and I all went to a nice steak restaurant. As we went around, we all placed steak orders, except my brother. Kerry decided to order fish tacos. We were all excited as our delicious steaks were presented before us. Kerry, however, looked at the wimpy tacos and his face screamed disappointment. As we were all finishing up our dinners, my brother pulled the server aside and said “hey, i’ll take one of these filet mignons with all the sides and fixings To-Go.” We were all in disbelief, the waiter included, that someone would order a steak let alone a second meal to go. We went back to our hotel room and my brother polished off dinner number two. My brother always made me laugh when it came to food. I am pretty confident I will never know anyone else to order sixty dollars worth of tacos through the Taco Bell drive-thru, and then look at me and say, “Hey, did you want anything?”
Lastly, I don’t think I can stand in front of you all and not at least mention, Pete. For those of you that really know my brother, you also know Pete. Pete was my brother’s most beloved pet. Pete was an all black floppy cat that adopted us and from the time Pete became part of our family, he slept with my brother every single night. He loved that cat. Yesterday, I decided to take a little walk, listen to some music, and get some fresh air. I wasn’t even a block away from the house, I looked up from messing with my phone and lo and behold an all black cat ran right in front of me. I don’t think that was a coincidence. I can’t help but be reminded of my brother whenever I see a cat that looks like Pete. My hope for everyone standing here today, is that whenever you see an all black cat, you too will be reminded of my brother.
Kerry, my dad, and I were the three amigos. You were my laughing buddy and you were our dad’s best friend. My brother had the biggest heart and although we all feel Kerry was taken far too soon from this world, I know that he lived a beautiful life and has changed so many lives for the better. I will miss my little brother every single day for the rest of my life, but I feel so incredibly lucky to have shared such amazing memories with him.
I would like to close with a quote from Chance, from our favorite childhood movie ‘Homeward Bound’. It goes…
“I had learned that sacrifice, friendship and love were more than just the mushy stuff. At last, for the first time in my life, I was home.” -Chance
You’re at your forever home now Kerry. I’ll always love you little brother. Until we meet again…
Thank you.
Kyla Benson 