Kel Thrush and His Story of Hope!
Earlier on in the first years of this blogsite; I made contact with Kel Thrush, another Ko-Op worker from back in the day. I believe that he graduated in the Spring of 1966. He was married to Beth. We exchanged a few comments and then we again lost contact.
I knew that his father, Orval Thrush, died in June 2014 - he and I exchanged a few emails, mainly centered on RVing. Like Annette and I, he had traveled and lived in an RV.
Not until I stumbled onto this video, did I know what was occurring in Kel and Beth's lives.
https://www.facebook.com/stpaulumcky/videos/726234864396878/
I too have been a long-time blood donor (O-Negative) - began donating while working in Urbana School District. Last year, I was able to donate double platelets (What Red Cross sometimes calls Power Red donations) four times. I will continue doing so for as long as possible. Two simple things in life that have given me immediate positive feedback: (1) quitting smoking [more than 42 yrs. ago] and (2) donating blood. And now each time that I donate, I will think of Beth and Kel. I recently received notification from Red Cross that I have passed the five gallon donation mark.
Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) https://www.mds-foundation.org/what-is-mds/
Kelly if you see this, I express my deepest sympathy to you. And I hope that your own battle with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis will yield the best possible result.
Great memories of working shifts with sandy-blonde headed Kel; he was a dynamo. Working with him guaranteed that a shift would go quickly. He taught me many different skills; we closed up the Ko-Op at least a quarter or two.
Labels: Beth Thrush, blood donations, double platets, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, Kel Thrush, Kelly Thrush, Louisville, MDS, Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Power Red, Red Cross
posted by Larry Johnson @ 5:02 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Reconnected with Kel in early Dec. 2019. He sent this email message:
What a fantastic surprise to hear from you, Larry. I’m not a face booker but I am a great believer now of its social ability to make connections in such an extended way.
It was so great to read your blog history of the Ko-op. What a wonderful job you did of finding those details that had me shaking my head in astonishment as well as saying to myself many times as I read, “so that’s what that was all about or how that happened”. And the details of actually working at the Ko-op brought back many, many really good memories. My son said he now understands some of my basic work rules: they emanated from the Ko-Op.
Some other flash backs were:
* Mizeners way of preparing a head of lettuce for chopping into salad: smashing it core down on the back room work tabletop.
* Or how to bring cold tubs of cooked spaghetti almost instantly to hot and ready to serve using just a colander and a pot of hot water. I can still smell and taste the sauce that Miz made by the cauldrons full.
*How to “grill” those big cinnamon rolls to order - with a brush full of butter or without (and why would you NOT have butter). I’ve thought often thought that Panera should sell those.
*How to communicate that a booth needed cleaning: “number 3 hot”. We all knew that it meant the table was “hot” but I always wondered if some coed chick at another booth thought we were making comment on her hotness - and maybe we did (?).
*And then there were those every Friday after closing, top to bottom cleanups. Everybody showed up for those because it was also payday (in cash) and occasion for the frequent Mizener bits of wisdom to be disseminated. I have always been quick to size up any burger joint I walk into to discover its Ko-op cleanliness quotient.
Is the Ko-op still there? If it is, does it still have that same ambience. Not many things make me long for my youth. But the Ko-op days sure do.
We could probably bounce Ko-Op remembrances all day long. Thanks for your blog. I had nearly forgotten how much fun I had until I read your blog.
One last story. One day in class the person sitting next to me said, “I like sitting next to you, Kel. You smell like a hamburger and I can’t wait to get to the Ko-Op after class.” I think it was intended as a compliment. At least he continued to sit next to me that entire quarter.
Thanks for your condolences about Beth. Please, go hug Annette right now. You never know when you won’t have such a simple and spectacular opportunity to tell her how wonderful she is and what she means to your happiness.
Your blood donation record is exemplary. It’s hard to know how many lives you impacted so beautifully. It is the gift given so selflessly that keeps on giving and giving. Thanks, Larry.
Go Panthers. Long live the Ko-op memories.
Your hamburger smelling, grilling cleaner upper, hot monitoring Ko-op buddy, Kel
The Ko-Op building is still there but now houses a different restaurant: Dirty’s Bar & Grill. Diirty's has a liquor license. That has changed the ambience.
https://dirtysbarandgrill.com/
I believe that the upstairs apartments have been modified from the original hall of rooms with a shared bath - - perhaps changed to apartments?
But it has been a few years since I have visited Charleston.
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