Kevin Archibald was a very special person. I met him through my wife. Because he and his wife Anne lived in California, I probably met him 5 or 6 times. That did not matter to him, because he was the type of person that loved people and he made me feel like I was his best friend. Even if I had not seen him in a year, he would remember our last conversation, and we would continue with the conversation like a year did not pass. Kevin was very smart and saw the world through a unique lens. He always saw the positive side of things. I loved to listen to him talk about his passions, everything from technology to Harry Potter. You could tell that he put his whole self into his passions, because he knew everything about them and always had an answer to my questions. That is the way he lived his life. He lived it to the fullest. He was the same way with his wife, Anne. You could tell by the way he looked at her that he really loved her and that she was his life.

I am a chemical dependency counselor and currently work in a prison. I have worked with a few offenders who have killed someone due to drugs and alcohol. Being on the other side of things is difficult, since I know the person who was killed. It makes me sad to have to write this letter, because a special person was killed due to someone’s carelessness. Kevin’s death has left a hole in my life, and I cannot even imagine how it has affected his wife, Anne, and their family. As I am writing this letter, I am getting flooded with memories of Kevin. At my wedding, Kevin came up to me and congratulated me on getting married. He then asked me about the singer and how much he loved the song she just sang. He was so impressed with the singer and her music that he said he was going to research her. I told him that I would send him one of her CDs.

Unfortunately, I never did send him the CD, and more unfortunately, I will never have the chance to make it right with him. Although knowing Kevin, he would have forgiven me without a second thought. That is just the kind of guy he was.