Kenneth Mackey Ogilvie

At the beginning of Christian obits, it's customary to send the departed off into a cliché. That ain't happenin' here. It does seem I've died. Oh well, I had a lucky and blessed life.
So, no parting cliché, just my pre-written, long winded (as usual) obit.

I, Kenneth Mackey Ogilvie, born in 1945, have died. I was happy to be known by several
nicknames including Mac, Ken, Doc, Dad, Granddaddy and Cuz. I was preceded in death by all my ancestors, and survived by all my descendants. That's lucky all by itself.

In fact, I was lucky across the board in life. My parents lived well, saw me through good
schools near Los Angeles. We camped in the mountains, deserts and beaches, plus they let me spend time on the creek in Ruidoso. At a young age, I knew the difference between L.A and God's country. That's a great and lucky lesson in itself.

At birth, my dad literally planned out my life as an engineer - he wrote it down that day! As a list! Good grief. Schools, degrees, career, details galore. His plan took time to fail. I hid from it for almost 26 years. In school I was lazy. Homework? Ignore it. Earned the Dean's List - the other one - the "come talk to me about your horrid grades" list. Escaped with a degree. Then I spent the Vietnam war in US Navy missile design. The Navy moved me to China Lake out near Death Valley - out of the LA smog and into God's country! I loved that desert and those people.

It was there that I felt my call into medicine. My parents and wife were opposed to this
nonsense, but luck followed. A lot of foot dragging followed, but with a personal call to
heed, my laziness vanished. While working full time, I started college all over again - biology
and chemistry from scratch. To my own amazement, I did very well, and was accepted to med
school, did well, and found myself in a top-notch residency program. To top it off, it was fun!

My marriage strained and broke under the load of this inner growth and medical
training. Our daughter, Susan, was 12. Our break hurt Susan profoundly. That hurt has
been my single huge regret in life. [Susan, you know I love you beyond words.]. Susan
turned out to be super bright, energetic, fun, and amazing woman in her own right. She
always made her dad's heart swell.
I also have loved my dazzling grandkids, Katie and Amy, more than they will ever suspect.

Years after the divorce, eight months into private practice, came a blind
date; Maribelle! Though we'd both grown up a mile apart in the 1950's L.A. suburbs, though we'd even had friends in common, and though she'd taught Susan in 1979, we did not meet until our 1986 date in Albuquerque. We got married 59 days later. The marriage worked. That IS profoundly lucky. [Sweetie, all my love, and then some].

We were both workaholics. When we workaholics retired 20 years later, we were delighted to discover that we really enjoyed each other's full-time company! More luck - Lucky in love.

With retirement, we traveled. Each trip, short or long, caused us both to exclaim aloud over and over how blessed our lives were. The blessings never stopped.

It's customary to end a book with acknowledgements of the people who made it possible. In my book of life, the list is too long. Sadly, I've not told enough people how much I loved them along the way. But now that it's Oscar night, I'd like to thank my producer, my agent, my co-star, my various pets...

Relatives - the whole Fam Damily as we used to say.
Treasured adults from childhood - Charlie, Mr. Mundy, Mr. Hoar, the Joneses, the Primes,
Mrs. Aylward, the Groens.
Personal friends at various ages. The guys - Gary, Bill, Tom and Ed, Dick, Bob, John, Hugh, Terry, Byrch, Jock, Greg, Chuck and Pat. And gals, too - Mary, Kay, Kathy & Cathy, Carol, Carolyn, Ruth, Barb, Claire. Maribelle, Jan, Pam, Eloise, Roberta and Katie.
Friends of the heart, Jan and Hugh.
People in the arts raised my spirit and deserve tons of blessings in return. Painters by the basketful opened my heart and stopped me in my tracks. Musicians regularly brought me to tears. Dance. Photography. It's hard to list the joys showered by the arts into my life.

Hundreds of my patients need to be listed. Patty, Sharon, Kelle, Sandy, Joyce, Lisa, Karen, Teresa,.. on and on, there was a patient almost every day who left a powerful, emotional memory. Thank you all for blessing my life with your trust and your life lessons.

There were too many mentors to credit. Everyone above plus a few focused mentors - Ollie Varnes, Ray Blume, Ellis Cline, Bill Belser, Art Kaufman, Ron Annala, Walt Cherny, Joe Hanss, John Coon, and Craydon McDonald. There's a special kind of love reserved for those who get into our hearts specifically to teach us great life lessons.

And now come too few acknowledgements of a spiritual sort. Thatcher Jordan taught me the profound loving at the core of Christianity. A spiritual quiet followed college, but it segued into a period of growth in the 90's. A few big souls in Winslow, AZ, nourished me back to life, some without their suspecting it - Sam, Harold Card, John Cox, and Eloise. In 2011 a move to NM to be near the grandkids found me enormously lucky to land in the presence of a master of the spirit, Brian Taylor and his congregation of deep souls. It has been a godsend to be among them. A few deep spirits reached deeply, but entirely too briefly, into my heart - Martha, Doug and Kristin. Lucky in life, lucky in spirit.

I am what all these people made me. Above all I am grateful for their presence in my life. At the end I had no yearning for a better afterlife, just profound thanks for the blessings in this life. Love to you all.

For Maribelle, the last kiss. I wish I had more.