Kenny Luker My Brother

Frank & I had been in Vegas for an overnight stay with my daughter and when we came home Thursday afternoon January 14th, there was a message from my brother Allen telling me that my baby brother Kenny had passed away.

Kenny had been living on borrowed time for several years as he was an alcoholic and had abused drugs. He had lived so much longer than we expected, it was still a surprise and shock to get the message.

This horrible addiction had already taken my Mother's life at age 50, and my brother Bobby at age 37 who committed suicide, and was drunk when he did it. My father was an alcoholic too, but when the doctor told him it was going to kill him he had the will power to stop drinking and lived a long life.

The funeral was hard for me to see my brother look so bad, and to see him buried in his Budweiser shirt and jeans. It was just a reminder to me of what had caused his death. I had to talk and was the last speaker and that was really hard too, and to see his wife grieve and cry over him before they closed the casket. She cried so hard that tears fell into Kenny's eyes and it looked like he was shedding tears too. Maybe he was?

My brother Allen and I are the only ones in our family who are not alcoholics and we both know it has a lot to do with our religion and beliefs. Even though I had seen enough of it as a child I doubt I would have ever drank as I promised myself that my life would be different and I would have a happy family someday. My childhood was not a happy one, and I saw more than any child should be exposed to. I was 16 years older than my brother and was married when he was just a baby of 3 years old.

Kenny didn't have a chance to have a normal life being born to Alcoholic parents. My husband and I found him one time crying over my Mom's passed out body and I caught him drinking out of a quart size beer bottle. He was only 4 years old when this happened.

I am grateful that I moved 400 miles away from all of this dysfunction and I stayed away from my family as much as I could as I didn't want my children influenced by them. I loved my baby brother, but we had such different life styles our paths didn't cross very often. He thought I looked down on him, but I didn't, I just felt bad as I knew the outcome wouldn't be good and it wasn't. He died just before his 53 birthday on January 31. I love you Kenny, and glad that the suffering is over for you.