Geraldine Moyle Ken Genser, 2010
It's been comforting in the midst of grief to read so many eulogies that speak to Ken's essential self, both here & at the LookOut: very different people, same man. That's some kind of integrity, enviable & defining. It's one thing not to speak ill of the dead, another matter to speak in such a unified voice about who Ken was & how we all will remember him. Irrepressible in life (good & bad!); irreplaceable in death.
Back in September, Patricia asked me to write a few words about Ken. I wrote the paragraph that follows-& shared it with him. So, in ways I couldn't have anticipated at the time, I was blessed: I wrote this, Kenny got to read it, & he thanked me. I'm so glad he knew how fond I was of him, in tribute; I'm so sad we have to live in a world without him. As others have said, though, we can honor him best by making that world reflect him still.
If there's one defining image of Kenny that epitomizes the man over the full 20+ years that I've known him, it is to imagine him as a Jewish Puck, with mischief on his mind & a practical joke ups his sleeve. I remember him from back when he was transparently shy & even self-effacing -not attributes a member of the SM public might automatically associate with our mayor. But I've never underestimated his wicked sense of humor, his impish love of fun, or his ability to deadpan the most outrageous piffle. All of that sometimes makes it easy to overlook Kenny's sterling qualities, but not for long. Ken is never without his walking stick, & uses it in ways that still both intrigue & amuse me. Its presence is a reminder that my friend deals with some level of pain every waking moment-not that one would ever know it from the indefatigable resourcefulness he applies to remaining engaged, involved, & active in all the many things that call upon his attention & his intelligence. The body may be weakened by a chronic condition, but the mind is blade sharp, quick as silver-always ready to grasp the essentials of any problematic issue & toss out one solution . . . no, two . . . no, why not three? And he will do that, not just with public policy, but with any friend's personal problems or dilemmas. Kenny has the helping gene-it's hard-wired, he's got it bad. In serving on the council, lo these many years, Ken has become the reliable institutional memory on the dais-he know where all the bodies are buried-hell, he may even have interred one or two himself. But although he is connected by experience to the past, he is never more energized than by planning for the future & thinking ahead-it's the vision thing, too. Santa Monica's motto is "A happy people in a happy city." Thanks to this home-grown Puck, happiness for all who know him & for those he has so faithfully served is a guaranteed part of the package. I'm not there tonight, but I salute you, Ken!