It was the summer of 1986 in between my junior and senior year of high school, and my parents had sent me to Georgetown to get a trial-run of college life.  Leaving aside the wisdom, on their part, of sending their 16yo to one of the few places with a drinking age (at that time) of 18 and enforcement lax enough for a high school kid to do some legitimate bar-hopping, the weekend trip I took to visit my Uncle Kenny’s family was a needed time out from my college prep experience.

Most of my memories of my Uncle were around family events, bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, momentous birthdays and family reunions.  Maybe I cherish this one more because it was a chance to spend one-on-one time with him, my aunt and my cousins.   I remember taking the train from D.C. to Philadelphia, or come to think of it, I don’t know if I took the train, it could have been a bus.  There is a traumatic experience I once had of sharing a bus seat with a man who had the largest neck goiter I have ever seen and a stink like you wouldn’t believe.  It could have been that trip, so maybe it was a bus.  Or maybe I took the train to Philly and the bus back from Reading?  Memory is a tricky thing.

 Regardless, what’s important is that my Uncle Kenny, my Aunt Shirley, my cousins, Greg, Joe and Kate, all drove up from Reading to meet me in Philadelphia.  I remember being so happy to see them at the train (slash) bus station.  One, because they just had this energy about them as a family that was contagious and made me feel good.  Two, because Philadelphia is kind of an intimidating place for a California kid.  Prior to the trip I had overheard a story either from my Cousin Evette or my Aunt Renee about a college kid who had been stabbed while waiting for his family to pick him up from school.

Well, Uncle Kenny makes a good bodyguard (my dad has already told me many stories of their football days) and having him and his family at my side, eased my Jewish-induced paranoias.  After they picked me up, it was on to Veteran’s Stadium for my first (and only) Phillies game.  As a Dodger fan of the 70’s and 80’s, I wasn’t too keen on the Phillies as they were our perennial playoff opponent and beat us in the last matchup.  Plus they had the Phanatic.   The actual game wasn’t well attended.  I can’t recall the opponent,  it could have been the Expos.  In that particular game, the Phanatic probably provided the most excitement.  My Uncle could talk baseball though so it was like going to a game and being in the press box with your own personal color commentator.  When the game was over, they took me out to get an authentic Philly Hoagie.  Don’t remember the name of the restaurant but it was on a very Italian street near the Stadium.  Overall, just a very nice day with my Uncle, Aunt and cousins.

The most memorable part of the visit for me was the long car ride back.  It was late.  I was crammed in the back seat between my three cousins.  Usually in that situation, darkness, no scenery, a long day, the white noise of the road, I would just nod off to sleep.  But my uncle talked to me the whole drive home.  Mostly asking me what I thought of my taste of college life, and what my aspirations were.  I told him I was taking international relations, and we got to talking politics.  To be honest, I don’t remember the exact content of the conversation.  It was just a conversation with my uncle at an impressionable time in my life.

It’s funny because I remember times with my dad, or even more so, with Grandpa Irv, when they would tell stories about my Uncle Kenny and his college years at Brandeis.  My grandfather was definitely, you could say, more conservative leaning in his worldview, and to listen to stories that he told of Kenny at Brandeis, you would come to believe that during those years, Kenny had been brainwashed by his professors in that hot-bed of Liberalism.  So during the car ride, I had all this back story in my head about my uncle, he was a bit of an iconic figure in my family, the rebel, the liberal, he was a Pocrass and had a moustache and later a full beard!  It was the first time I was at an age where I could talk to my uncle and interpret and appreciate things from my own point of view.   The car ride talk was kind of a counterweight to the legends in a way.

The rest of the trip doesn’t stand out in my memory as much and gets mixed in with other trips and memories of times spent with my uncle, aunt and cousins which were all really good times and memories for me.  Since those days, I have grown  more distant from my extended family and relatives.  I saw my uncle only fleetingly at a few family events, over the course of what, twenty five plus years.  I don’t think I ever picked up the phone to call him or even send an email.  I regret not being a better nephew.  I know I cannot say thank you directly to him now, even though that is really the point of sharing this story.

My first memories of learning how to fish was with grandfather Sam Pocrass on some family vacations. I remember Mackinac Island and Ken and I fishing with him off a long pier. We took a ferry to the Island which is in the connection between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and the three Pocrass families stayed at the Grand Hotel with a pre-World War I environment.

My best memories of fishing with Ken was as teenagers going with Irv and Al Ross of Syro Steel on one of their fly-in camp with a guide, annual pilgrimages to Georgian Bay, in Northern Ontario - Canada. Georgian Bay is huge with thousands of islands and known for outstanding Northern Pike, Muskie, Walleye, and Bass. We carried canoes to fish from. I don’t remember our getting the “priced” Muskie. But, one morning we fished in a heavy rain storm and would paddle to the head of an inlet and float down stream; each time catching 2 or 3 large Bass. Ken and I were in our canoe together and being in a canoe provide a ton of fun. One of the best shore lunch experiences of my life was cooking these Bass. The guide taught me the best way to fillet a fish which I still do to this day.

Howard Johnson’s, famous for its 28 flavors of ice cream and fried clams, was headquartered in Quincy, MA and Friday evenings were "all you can eat “fish fry nights. They were the hot franchise of the 60’s and believe it or not, Jacque Pepin start in the United States was as their Corporate Chief.

Legend has it that it was Ken’s and his Brandies College friends’ favorite place to chow out on Friday nights. They held a “who could eat the most” contest and Ken always won by leaving the table to take a walk outside. They actually got banded from the restaurant. I'm not making this up; how they knew who these college students were when they tried to get in; but the hostess had radar.

When Ken was in college he developed a deep love for the Celtics basketball team.  During Ken’s time at Brandeis, those Celtic days were the glory years with Sam Jones, K.C. Jones and Bill Russell.   I think Ken went to a lot of games but he was careful not to reveal how many around Irv.   Ken wore his Celtic jerseys with pride.   During a playoff game he often called me to ask if I was watching the game.  He always talked about the bad calls the referees were making. I remember he often was upset but I also realized he just wanted to share the Celtic moments with someone.  

Ken could give you a lot of details of the Celtics team.  So I have to give you some of those details.  Ken had a love for a new guard named Sam Jones.  With the retirements of guards Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman there were two new Celtic super stars being born.  Guards with the same last name of Jones were emerging.  They were Sam Jones and K.C. Jones.  Ken loved to talk about the Jones.  The Jone’s were the new backcourt tandem in Boston.  Defense became more important than ever to the Celtics' success with the Jone’s. So the Celtics still ran the ball, but with K.C. Jones at the helm instead of the master, Cousy, it was a fast break game. K.C.Jone also wasn't the scorer Cousy was, but he made up for it with tenacious pressure defense that rattled opponents and set the tone for the Celtics during the Ken college years.  I am just telling you what Ken would tell you when he talked about the Celtics back then.  Ken would not be about to leave out Bill Russell the masterful center.  And I know none of you remember  "Satch" Sanders at power forward but Ken sure did.

So with the ball-hawking K.C. Jones at one guard and the defense of  Sam Jones at the other backcourt spot, the Celtics led the NBA during Ken’s college years.  I know you are saying but where was Havlicek.  Well he was to come later.

Years later,  I realized that it did not matter how good or bad the Celtics were as a team in the future.  Ken stayed a loyal Celtic fan.   As we all know, Ken probably watched a few Denver Nuggets games living in Denver.  Go Nuggets.  But be assured that if the Nuggets played the Cetltics we all know who Ken was cheering for.

I was not ready for any of us to pass from life to memory. After all, Dad made it to 85 and Mom at 93 is still among us.

This is what I remember about Ken. I’ll let everyone decide whether it is imagined or real. Guess what, I’ve learned…your brain cannot distinguish the difference, so for me it is REAL!

For me, Ken’s “Me Too” role was good. You got to have a buddy in crime for whatever you wanted. It was an automatic second vote! Ken was an expert at this! Make him ask to go to the Dairy Queen on the way home from Ashtabula; you got a Buster bar.  The bad side, he wanted to go with you and your friends and do whatever you did; BUT, all your friends loved to include him.

There is a famous story Roz tells about me cutting off my tie so he would not wear it, but only I can remember the expression on his face for seeing me unexpectedly say, NO WAY! Irv also had some stories about Ken delivering me to protect him in the middle of his fights. I’m not so sure about them. My funniest story is that Ken and I once split a gallon of Deneen’s mint ice cream on the walk home from football practice that was spoiled. I don’t think Ken ever ate mint ice cream again.

Many of my best memories are from the semester Ken had to take time off from Brandeis as punishment for not making grades because he was getting his Master Points in bridge. As the oldest child, Irv was OK with me bringing him to live with me in Pittsburgh. Because he was living with me I had to find new living quarters and thus met a life friend in Dale Flanagan. Dale was a real ladies man, but it was told Ken seduced many of his dates to stay with him after we left for work. I’m also sure Ken’s job repossessing cars made it easy for him to decide that going back to Brandies was better than staying with me in Pittsburgh.

My Pittsburgh years probably played a large role in everyone in the Levy/Pocrass era’s lives. We can blame it all on Renee & Fred, but those years were surely very happy times. Our lives, Renee & Fred’s, Shirley & Ken’s, Rena & mine were the fantasy dream of all our parents. Maybe at 73 I know fairy tales don’t come true, but they still bring back many smiles.

Ken was the smartest, most brilliant, best athlete of all of us. Brandies supported him seeing a very liberal side of life and he could out argue everyone but Irv. I never questioned his love or that he wanted the best for every one of us; even if I could not agree he had the best path to accomplish it.

Some of the things we shared later in life were his passion and love of food and good wine. Rena and I loved having the opportunity of sharing some of my wine finds with Ken and Barbara. I want to believe that these last years in Denver with Barbara were happy ones for him.

I have learned; that being the first born child certainly, knowing or unknowing, for good or bad; shaped my role in family life. Likewise, probably for good or bad, Ken was given, to have the second child, “me too” role. At 73, I have both great Ken memories and some not happy one, but no one gets to live a full life without some of both. His leaving without saying goodbye is a significant lesson in life for me, maybe for all of us. Life has many twists and turns and we all have our Pocrass-Meshenberg righteousness and stubbornness genes. I regret I had not found better acceptance.

I was in the Army Reserves and each year we had to go to a two week adventure on active duty.  When Greg was born I was on one of these adventures.  Luckily I was one hour from Philadelphia (Fort Indiantown Gap) and Ken called me to tell me Shirley was going to give birth at anytime.  Somehow I talked to my commander and he let me take time to go to be with Shirley and Ken for Gregs birth.  

When I arrived to their apartment in Philly, their apartment door opened and I saw two of the most excited and happy people I have ever seen.  I will never forget the looks on both of their faces throughout that whole evening. Shirley was smiling and grinning all night from ear to ear.  Ken was so excited.  And banjo their dog was jumping all over with excitement just sensing their excitement.  I think banjo was smiling too.  

This was one of the happiest moments of Ken's life. Shirley said it was time and we were off to the hospital.


Alan   

A lot of family members may not know that Ken spent a lot of his vacations as a child going on fishing trips in Canada.  If you look at a map of Canada and look in the Montreal northern section you will see Rice Lake.  This area has many small lakes and Irv dragged all his sons to this part of Canada for yearlly fishing trips.

Fishing with Irv was an experience because he was very impatient and the fishing boats were constantly in motion.  We had to find the fish and move from spot to spot on the lake until we found the magic spot.  This is where Ken's best fishing skill came out.  He loved to captain the boat. Irv was always in the front of the boat with his rod in the water.  I think they call this trolling.  Ken had the unique skill of driving the boat while trolling simultaneously.   Actually I never remember catching many fish without the boat in motion.  You had to have the right trolling hook on the line to be successful at this type of fishing.  Irv had every lure made but I never understood this technology and how it was suppose to attract certain fish and not others.  Ken knew ever fishing lure as well so normally we did have some fish by lunch time becasue the greatest part of fishing is that fresh fish at lunch time.  We ate fish and chips for lunch and normally we had plenty of fish to serve a good lunch.

I will always have these thoughts of these fishing trips in my mind when I remember my childhood.

Alan