Tributes
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Love you buddy!
Tonight our Mom is making perogies and cabbage rolls and having some of those friends over. It will be a night of tears and laughs as well. Kelly will be watching us I'm sure. I often feel his presence, sometimes when I'm least expecting it and at other times when I really need him. I love and miss you so much little brother.
Love from the Cosmos...
Love Kim
Your Memory Lives On
Time has not erased
Your image from our minds.
It has not lessened the pain
That you are no longer with us.
You touched the lives of so many,
Across continents.
You lived a life,
though brief, it was full.
A lasting legacy was left
Through your musical creations.
Stories we share
Will keep your memory alive.
Time moves forward as it always does,
And we must carry on.
Feeling your spirit with us,
Brings comfort and peace.
So until we meet again,
Here's a toast to you dear brother, son,
grandson, uncle, and friend......
Your memory lives on.
I met Kelly everytime I went to play in Japan, we shared meals and laughs, he was a great guy and a fantastic artist.
I will miss you, Kelly.
I had the pleasure of attending Vancouver Community College Jazz studies program with Kelly. A very talented & gifted musician, Kelly would often expose us to interesting avant gaurd composers.
A great friend , you will be dearly missed.
You told me you didn't want to do any chemotherapy because you didn't want to lose your sense of your fingers as a prefessional musician.
I believe you enjoy your noise and music now.
See you again.
Roman said" you haven't changed a bit "really?
Bonnie said "I did get your message" lots of tears at this point.
Kim said" it's good to see you"
Kevin - recognized him but I don't know how and then he pointed out his siblings.
Cory said" hm long lost relatives and be sure and say hi to Starla"
Casey said" somebody has the same birthday as mom's"
PS we think we will stick with country.
PPS- hey Cory- how about a souvenir from Shania for Jayci?
He made friends and touched peoples lives in all walks of life and everywhere he went. From his work as a teacher to his life as a musician he always gave his best and helped everyone he could to do their best too.
He is one of the best friends that I could ever hope to have had and for that i will be eternally grateful, his kindness, wisdom and grace were always present in his interactions with everyone around him. Although his life was tragically cut short, he managed to squeeze in more in that short time than most of us could hope to accomplish in a dozen lifetimes and I choose to rejoice in that and remember him as one of the most brilliant people I have ever encountered.
Rest in peace Kelly, i loved you like a brother and you will be in my heart as long as i draw breathe, you inspired me in the past and will continue to inspire me.
Bonnie, Roman, Kim, Kevin, Cory, and Casey- my sincere condolences.
The last few days have been strange and sad days for me and very hard to put the hours in at my job. Lots of fond, crazy, bizarre and heartfelt memories have flooded back to me about my time with Kelly and my other friends. It's made me reflect on my own life and how thankful I am to be alive and how much he helped me through a lot of rough patches. It didn't matter how bad things got for me, when I talked with him, he always seemed to have simple, clear answers that made total sense and made me look at the bright side of things.
His never-ending inside humour and jokes will be sorely missed. Some jokes were just between me and him, some were between a small select group of people like Ben, Shanto, Chris K, Masa, Stefan and others. I remember the first time Kelly came over to my place to hang out & "inspect" the CD collection and once he saw I had the Zorn boxset "The Parachute Years", he nodded to Ben, who was also there, "Yeah man, he's in". And from there on, our relationship kept evolving. One thing that Kelly admired that I could do like no one else was the death belch, and it never failed to make Kelly almost roll over laughing. A "death belch" is basically letting out a deep gutteral growl like a death metal vocalist while at the same time, belching. It was complete and utter abandon and juvenile, ridiculously over-the-top bizarre humour that drew us together and we always made one another bowl over with laughter. I don't drink anymore, but I do miss some of the times we went on some major boozing excursions. He loved his beer & scotch and whenever in Tokyo he always took me to this high-end connoisseur liquor shop and pointed to the ones he recommended. "Get that one". I was amazed at his vast knowledge of just about everything, from booze, music, films, books and science.
His passing has made me extremely sad, but at least I feel I have a certain closure with him as I talked with him VIA Skype about 6 weeks ago or so. I don't feel like there is anything else I wanted to tell him or could tell him and he knew that. I said what I thought was necessary, told him how much I loved him, as a dear true friend, the rarest of the rare, a partner in crime and one of the most gifted, ambitious and positive influences in my entire life. I know I likely wouldn't have been so interested in Japan without his turning me onto the underground culture there. But I am happy that Kelly is no longer suffering and at peace and he seemed to be fully accepting of his short time left. I am grateful that I have my health, sobriety, a beautiful woman who loves me very much and friends and family that love me very much. I am truly grateful for those things every single day. We take for granted those gifts and many other simple things in life, like being able to wake up in the morning and look outside at the beauty that surrounds us. Take it all in and enjoy your time left. Life truly is short. Eternal love to my soul brother and one of the only people on the entire planet that understood me as well as he did...
To the entire Churko family, my sincere condolences and deepest love and respect for all of you. I know none of you have met me except Cory but hopefully you have heard good things about me. Kelly and I were very close and I would consider him the best friend I ever had.
I apologize I am unable attend the funeral because of financial reasons, distance and work. I wish I could be there to meet all of you.
I plan to work on a piece of artwork dedicated to Kelly in the next while with a central image of him, to try and capture everything that he was about, which is not an easy thing to do.
Much love & respect, Mitch
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/plasmakun_2006/e/164079bf561458053da44ed9ec9c10d3
Rest in paradise my friend!!
Leave a Tribute
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Please be patient.
Salmon jacket
Cory, Jody, and Kelly were going for a walk. It was a bit cool and Kelly needed a jacket. Mum grabbed one of hers and we spent about 15 minutes convincing Kelly that it was salmon coloured and NOT pink. Finally he puts it on, then in the door walks my son Tréa who says, "Ha. Kelly is wearing a pink jacket!" Immediately we all burst out laughing. Except for Kelly, who says, "See! I told you!!"
Family together 2013
Juno Awards 2013
This is a rare photo of all 5 Churko siblings taken at Hotel Saskatchewan after the Juno Awards. On the drive there, Casey was playing several vocal jazz songs and I guess Kelly was not in the mood for it.. He said in an exasperated voice, "F&$@! Casey! Are you trying to make me mad??!!" I couldn't help but laugh. It brought me back to when the boys were young.