Kinkikali

April 10

Every April 10th that comes around reminds me of an incident from years ago.  I was at UNH, my freshman year.  Amongst my friends was one Glenn David Hayes, a youthful, upbeat, and happy with the world soul from Bartlett NH.  He mixed easy and sat behind me in an Intro to Geography class. In the spring of 1983 he came to visit Richardson House, my dorm,  He was interested in transferring.  Glenn was also deep into Crew.  Early in April he hit me up for a fundraiser for Crew team.  I gladly sponsored him on that Thursday as he had great dedication to Crew.

A few days later (Saturday) the day was raw and ugly–rain and wind, gusty and gloomy.  I gave little thought to Glenn or to the fundraiser.  Japanese class had a field trip to Japanese restaurant in Amherst NH.  This was at a time when Japanese food was unheard of in NH.  The trip, despite the length, was a rousing success.

But when I got back to Richardson early that evening the usual casual and light hearted Saturday was cold and still.  My gut told me something was terribly wrong.  The day at the Midori Restaurant was pushed aside as a tearful Teresa Leavitt (who went to high school in the Conway area) came up to me and said “Glenn is dead!”.

There had been a freak wind on Great Bay.  The shells were swamped.  Glenn tried to make it ashore.  Other stayed with their boats.  They were rescued.  It was on the news.

Of course back in THOSE days we had no cell phones and no Internet.  But the shock lasted for years.  Three years before a buddy from Spring Street, Dennis Quinn, died in a motorbike accident back down by “The Tracks” (where B & M railroad ran).