Kenneth J. Frayne
Jan 25 1973 – Oct 13, 2001

Wonderful, caring, compassionate, patient, forgiving, hard-working, brave, clumsy, proud, intelligent, funny, handsome, annoying at times, dedicated and young. Way to young.

Kenny owned his own construction company. He was extremely hard-working. His work day started at 4 am or so and went to 11 or 12 at night. His day didn’t end with the running around doing bids, or working at a job site. It ended at night doing paper work in his office barely keeping his eyes open. But there was one thing that Kenny loved besides his family and his business – firefighting. He was a volunteer at Channahon Fire Department in Illinois. I remember wondering why he loved that so much and why he would when he had so much else to do in his long busy day. Well I knew when we watched Kenny one evening doing paperwork and looking as if he were going to fall asleep. He heard his pager go off, called in to the station, and was off with a smile on his face. And in what seemed like only a few minutes, we heard the truck roll past his house and he waved to us and blew the horn. He was meant to do that.

Oct 13, 2001
I remember that day like it was yesterday. I know everyone says that, but when I really think about it, I feel the feeling I felt that day. No words can describe it. I have lost grandparents and other relatives, but this was different.

I remember the last time I spoke to Kenny. It was the night before. Kenny always called too early in the morning, or too late at night. I learned that is when he had time. This time was at 10pm or so. I answered the phone and was really annoyed as usual. “Hey Jen, is Eddie there?” I can still hear his voice. I wish I had been nicer, or told him how much he meant to me, that he was the best brother-n-law that I could ever ask for, or that I loved him. But you don’t ever know when someone is going to get taken from you.

Saturday morning I went to work like any other day. Late morning I received a call from my husband Ed (Kenny’s brother). “ Kenny’s missing.” Now, I didn’t understand how he could be missing. I had forgotten that he was going to be doing his dive training in Coal City with the other firefighters. Ed said that he went down and never came back up. I was in a panic and working as fast as I could to get out of work. I finally left an hour or so later. I called Ed to let him know that I was going to stop at home and then hurry out there. He told me that they found Kenny and that they were on the way to the hospital. Well when I arrived at Kenny’s house, I found out that yes they found him, but he was already gone.

It was such a blur, going to the hospital, calling his customers, the wake & the funeral. Now he’s just gone. But I have never felt so honored to have known someone until I saw the honor he was shown. I was proud to stand there as part of his family. There were hundreds of firefighters that came from areas all around to come pay their respects to the firefighter they had never met. And the funeral, it was like a parade. The police and fire trucks escorted the fire truck that held Kenny’s Casket and took him for one last drive through Channahon. The children came out of the schools to wave flags as we passed. People lined the streets waving in thanks. None of this made the pain and hurt go away, but it did help comfort us.

We know that he is still with us everywhere we go. And that makes life easier. When we do something stupid, we laugh because we can still remember the face he would make. We still ask him to look after us. We ask him for his strength when we have trouble in our lives.

We miss him every Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Independence Day, every other holiday, and every day of every year that goes by without him. We live each day hoping that we are making Kenny proud of us.

Life goes on, people move on, but we will never forget. It’s easier not to cry. It’s easier to tell stories. But the pain, though dulled, it’s still there and it always will be. And though Our children never met him, they will always know their uncle Kenny with stories through us. “Uncle Kenny was a hero! He went to heaven which is up in the sky, up past the moon and the stars. You can always talk to him and he will always listen. Just wave.”
The kids talk about him as if they knew him. Matthew said yesterday, “I sure miss uncle Kenny, mom”. My reply “and he misses you, too, kiddo!” That’s a sure sign that We’re keeping him alive with the stories! We went out to the cemetery to visit yesterday and sang our Christmas song like we always do. Anyone that knew him knew that he would start listening to Christmas songs around June and wouldn’t stop until maybe February! So we sang jingle bells for him. We love you, Kenny!
Love, Ed, Jen, Kenny, Matthew and Hannah