Thursday, August 31, 2017

Farewell, old friend

I HAVEN'T HEARD the name Kim Kozian for almost 30 years. We worked together on the Chippewa Yearbook, back when Central Michigan University still had a yearbook. Like many of the people I knew back then, she simply drifted away as we all got busy with life.

Kim died of cancer the other day. It took me a minute to place the name and lodge it back in my feeble memory banks, but when it finally registered, it was a sad moment.

I stay in touch with some of my CMU buddies through Facebook and other social media. I learned about Kim's death that way. I clicked on her obit and was fascinated that we shared a love of music and Northeast Michigan (she had a condo in Oscoda, I lived an hour north in Alpena for seven years).

This is more for Kim's family and friends. I'm sure she fought her cancer like a lion. Now she's in a better place.

Kim and I were copy editors on the yearbook staff our junior years. We both decided to put in for yearbook editor. I got the job, she didn't, and she wasn't happy. Kim was the first person I went to see, and I begged her to stay on staff and make my job a lot easier.

She did. She was professional and courteous and she busted her butt working on the yearbook, and I was forever grateful.

It's sad, how time and space drifts us apart. I wish I was closer to Kim and many other people from my hazy and crazy college days.

Peace, Kim. I was a better person for knowing and working with you all those years ago.

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