They aren't perfect, but they're
my family,

by kelvin wade | sunday may 13, 2012

On Mother's Day, May 13, 1990, my brother Ken shot and killed his girlfriend at a lounge on Parker Road in Fairfield, California and then walked outside and killed himself. The most horrific memory of that day for me was standing in the doorway of my mother's room with my sister in law Patty watching my brother Orvis sit with our mother and other brother Tony about to tell them what happened. Orvis, Patty and I had heard the shocking news moments before from the coroner's investigator and a friend of Ken's. It seemed like an eternity before Orvis finished the story and the room exploded in grief.

Suicide always leaves the survivors with more questions than answers. Not that there would ever be a good day to commit something like this, but one of the obvious questions was why Mother's Day? It was...Read More