The passing of a wirter

There is a character (Marshall Watkins) in "Death at the Jungle-bunny Journal" who is directly patterned after a real person. And unfortunately this week, the real Marshall Watkins, whose name was Kendall Wilson, died. Kendall was a staple at The Philadelphia Tribune where he had spent much of the last four decades -- on and off.

As was said in his obit published in the Tribune, Kendall knew everyone in the city and everyone knew him. His list of contacts and sources was amazing. He lived hard, he drank hard and he worked hard. With his jacket and hat, he looked like a throw-back to reporters in the 30s and 40s. And regardless of the cold, he never wore an overcoat. Not trusting banks, he always cashed his check and carried cash. I can't imagine the amount of money he must have paid for money orders.

I remember working with him in 1997 on a series of articles for which he won a national award. It was on the attempt by large corporations to buy up locally owned minority funeral homes. Kendall's reporting was excellent and his work was well-written, which made the content editing much easier.

Since moving back to the Midwest, I have missed seeing Kendall, even on my trips back to the Trib. Kendall stopped working there on a regular basis several years ago. So I rarely saw him. But even when he wasn't there, Kendall was a presence at the paper. And it was better for his having worked there.

I had hoped to make it to his funeral tomorrow but that just didn't work out.

May he rest in peace.

Thanks for reading, keep the hope and keep writing.