I know this is a bit of a long read, but maybe it will mean something to someone or give a little idea to so many that have shown support, what kind of person Kevin truly was.....Times like these really do make me proud to be a native of Bryan/College Station. Yes B/CS, because when I was growing up B/CS in my eyes was all one big community.
Anyhow, This thread and post and comments on Facebook and in The Eagle and KBTX showing people going above and beyond to pull things together for him and then for his memory has been so wonderful to witness.
Kevin was our friend. My husband and I have known Kevin for just about 9 years. We knew him because of my husband's addiction to coffee. Over the years we just kind of formed a real friendly relationship with Kevin. It is actually kind of crazy too, because Kevin was a sweetheart, but you had to get to know him to really know that. He was a jokster and he could be really sarcastic at times and people would take him wrong, my husband included. One of our first visits to the store early one morning, Kevin said something that my husband didn't care for and hubby took his own dig back at Kevin. I was like UH-OH, we probably need to get out of here. As we were walking out of the store, hubby says, "well that was a bit sarcastic" and he immediately didn't care for Kevin. Next morning, I was trying to think of a different stop for coffee, not wanting a repeat of the morning before, but there really was nowhere else (with good coffee) on our route, so I pulled in and took my chances. It pretty much was the same as the morning before and was thinking yep, this is our last time here, will just have to find somewhere else, because I was really thinking this would just escalate into something much worse if we continued to patronize that store in the mornings. However, at one point, while Kevin and hubby were taking their morning jabs at each other, I looked over at Kevin and saw this smirky grin on his face and I swear a little gleam in his eyes and I seen something different about him that morning. I don't know what it was, but I just had a different vibe about him. We walked out of the store and hubby, same spill as morning before and I stopped him and said "you know I think he is okay, I don't think he is being sarcastic at all, I think he is joking and teasing, but it just comes off that way." Hubby was like yeah okay, me knowing he wasn't agreeing with me. However after that day, I guess maybe hubby thought about what I said, next morning we go into store, starts off about the same as the first 2 mornings, but then next thing I know Hubby and Kevin are laughing and cutting up and joking and laughing with each other, sarcastically I might add, but from that day on, there was a friendship between the 3 of us. It never extended beyond us visiting the store, but we would go out of our way to go there just because of Kevin. You could stand there and talk to him for hours and never get bored or tired. Our conversations with him were always fun and interesting and never a dull moment when Kevin and hubby were standing there together. I could be in the worst of moods, tired from not getting any sleep, just feeling up to it you might say some mornings, but I never walked out of that store in the same mood I walked in after spending 5-10 minutes with Kevin. If I didn't walk out laughing my behind off, I at least had a big grin on my face. Hubby and I are going to miss Kevin very much. This whole thing has really been heart-wrenching for us and I do hope the man (animal) that did this to him gets what he deserves. RIP Kevin, we miss you. You did matter and you did make a difference in peoples lives, at least you did mine.