Some people you don't forget, even if you barely knew them. Kevin R. Young, who died a year ago today, is one of those people for me.
I met Kevin in San Antonio in March of 2011, during the weekend-long celebration of the 175th anniversary of the Alamo. One afternoon I squeezed into a small car with him and three other new acquaintances who cared deeply about the Alamo, heading for the Odd Fellows Cemetery on Powder House Hill. (It's a long story, but some of the ashes of the defenders -- just possibly including David Crockett's -- ended up there.)
The photo shows Kevin standing next to a historical marker commemorating the "Lost Burial Place of the Alamo Defenders." No, he couldn't tell me whether Crockett's remains really were on Powder House Hill. But I soon realized that Kevin Young knew pretty much everything else about Texas history -- and had a sense of humor about it, too.
I won't try to replicate that humor, except to say that I soon found myself referring to the Battle of Lexington as "the Gonzales of Massachusetts." But I will say that Kevin -- who spent much of his life as a historical interpreter and researcher, at Goliad's Presidio La Bahia among other places -- was incredibly generous with his knowledge. He sent me old maps, dug out unpublished documents from his files, and cheerfully answered as many Alamo questions as I tossed his way. Over the years, I've since learned, he did the same for many, many others.
After Kevin died suddenly last spring, his friend Lee Spencer White organized a San Antonio memorial service for him; it took place on Powder House Hill. Lee also wrote a moving remembrance of Kevin in the Alamo Studies Review; you can find a link to it here.
I met Kevin in San Antonio in March of 2011, during the weekend-long celebration of the 175th anniversary of the Alamo. One afternoon I squeezed into a small car with him and three other new acquaintances who cared deeply about the Alamo, heading for the Odd Fellows Cemetery on Powder House Hill. (It's a long story, but some of the ashes of the defenders -- just possibly including David Crockett's -- ended up there.)
The photo shows Kevin standing next to a historical marker commemorating the "Lost Burial Place of the Alamo Defenders." No, he couldn't tell me whether Crockett's remains really were on Powder House Hill. But I soon realized that Kevin Young knew pretty much everything else about Texas history -- and had a sense of humor about it, too.
I won't try to replicate that humor, except to say that I soon found myself referring to the Battle of Lexington as "the Gonzales of Massachusetts." But I will say that Kevin -- who spent much of his life as a historical interpreter and researcher, at Goliad's Presidio La Bahia among other places -- was incredibly generous with his knowledge. He sent me old maps, dug out unpublished documents from his files, and cheerfully answered as many Alamo questions as I tossed his way. Over the years, I've since learned, he did the same for many, many others.
After Kevin died suddenly last spring, his friend Lee Spencer White organized a San Antonio memorial service for him; it took place on Powder House Hill. Lee also wrote a moving remembrance of Kevin in the Alamo Studies Review; you can find a link to it here.
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