Ode to Kevin – by Jennifer and Rosemary

Continuing my brushes with poetry in my humble 40+ years....

In all honesty, I can’t take 100% credit for these next two epics. My fiend Jennifer and I would go to lunch at Grandy’s, and our creative juices, as well as the grease from the chicken, would start flowing. So she is co-author of both “Ode to Kevin” and “Ode to a Peeper.” The first one is regarding Kevin our supervisor. First, I will sketch in a little background:

In May of 1990, I started my paralegal internship at Bamberger, Foreman, Oswald, and Hahn in Evansville. My supervisor was an attorney named Kevin and I had to work with the asbestos files. Well, fortunately, Jennifer (the aforementioned fiend) had started there in April of 1990, and Kevin was her supervisor as well, and she needed help in the collection/subrogation work; so after my internship was over, BFOH hired me full-time while I continued my 5th/6th year of college (depending on how you look at it) part-time at night. I started working with Jennifer in that work. Thus my life story was changed irreparably, in many ways. Anywho, Jennifer and I loved working with Kevin. Heck! We loved Kevin. He was a good supervisor, a good attorney, and a good person. He was so fun to work with. Therefore, we were horribly saddened when he told us that he’d accepted a position with West Publishing Company as a salesman and was leaving us.

So off to Grandy’s we went. I can’t recreate the conversation where we came up with the idea of writing an ode to the man, but once we started, it soon turned into a six-verse ode. We printed it on nice paper and framed it and gave it to him as a going away present. Over the next several years, we’d see Kevin occasionally, and he’d assure us that the framed Ode was hanging in his office. Oh, and as a note, Georganne (George) was his secretary, and we added her name in because we needed another syllable. Now, without further ado:

Ode to Kevin

There once was a lawyer named Kevin,
Who stood about five foot seven.
He’s going into sales
Where the Liberty Bell hails
He thinks he’s died and gone to heaven.

He’s leaving BFOH for a job with West.
As a salesman, he’ll be the best.
Soon he’ll be rich.
(Ain’t that a bitch?)
Remember us in the will with the rest.

And so to Philly goes Bev,
To be with her husband, Kev.
The children will foller
Although they may holler.
So let’s help them load up the Chev’..

We’ve worked with this man about a year.
He never joined us for lunch and a beer.
We like him a lot.
(Would we write this did we not?)
When he leaves, we’ll all shed a tear.

He encouraged us in times of despair.
He still has a full head of hair.
Much like a brother,
He compares to no other.
Where will we turn when he’s not there?

So off to lunch we goes,
This limerick to compose.
Congrats on the news!
You’re the master of schmooze.
From George, Jennifer and Rose.