Sunday, April 1, 2018
It's been many years since I've seen or talked to my friend Okey. He and I were in school together although he was a couple years my senior. As a child I had seen Okey at Barrackville School but never had opportunity to interact with him since we weren't in the same grade. As I entered middle school (7th grade) at Barrackville the band brought us together. He and I each played drums. At that time I recall Okey playing the bass drum while at Barrackville. We quickly became friends and enjoyed hanging out together. We joked and goofed off and talked about girls and all of the things that young men talk about when the whole world is in front of you. When we both went to North Marion High School Okey made it clear that he no longer wanted to play the bass drum. He wanted to play tri-toms. This likely doesn't hold meaning to anyone reading this but tri-toms were essentially the zenith of what all of us wanted to play in the drum core. While I won't say Okey was the best at playing tri-toms he did just fine and never held back. I always respected and admired him for that. As he was older than me, he graduated before I did. I didn't see him too much after that. A few times here and there right after he graduated high school. He was in college and seemed to be enjoying life seeing concerts and getting his degree.
The world is a big place and there's never enough time. But I remember friends like Okey. He holds a special place in my childhood memories that will always be with me. If Okey had phoned me and said; "Hey Brian I know we haven't seen each other in decades, but let's get together with the old drum core... I would simply ask 'when and where'". You will be missed my friend.
