BLAST ERROR CAUSES CONFUSION ...AND HUMOR

The latest printed edition of the Litton Blast contains a section titled "In Memoriam" which lists the name of Kevin Temple of Litton's '72 class, "The Class That Never Was." Mr. Temple's name was entered in error and, in fact, he is very much alive and well. The Blast regrets the error and the resulting confusion it caused; however, we can now laugh at the humor which ensued.

The news of Kevin's "death" spread quickly. The 4,000 copies of the Litton Blast had been printed shortly before the Litton all-alumni picnic on Aug. 28th and Jack Benz ('51) had the copies in his SUV when he drove to the picnic. At the picnic, Jack opened one of the six large boxes, removed a batch of Blasts, and passed them out to people who were there.

One of the people attending was Carolyn Bond Kuykendall ('51). At home that evening, she began reading the news and saw Kevin's name. When youngsters, Carolyn's son, Steve Smallen ('71 and recently deceased), and Kevin played together; plus, Carolyn and Kevin's mother are well acquainted. Carolyn phoned Kevin's mom to express her condolences and was astonished when the latter replied, "Why, Kevin's not dead!"

Isaac Litton Alumni Association Board member, Jimmy Howell ('47), quickly learned of the erroneous report. Kevin handles Jimmy's insurance matters. Jimmy phoned Kevin about the listing and they both had a good laugh over it.

On the Monday following the picnic, Paul Rawls ('51) obtained Kevin's office number and called him to discuss the erroneous announcement. During the conversation, Kevin remarked that he was going to make up a scorecard and if he didn't receive condolences from at least 300 friends and clients, he'd be sorely disappointed.

On Aug. 30th, Skip Dean (‚68) heard about Kevin's "death." Skip tried phoning Kevin's best friend, Bobby Hite ('71), but couldn't reach Bobby. Somehow, Bobby became aware of Skip's concern and telephoned Kevin. Kevin dialed Skip's home phone, however Skip hadn't returned from work, so he left Skip a voice message. When Skip arrived home from work and still thinking Kevin was dead, he accessed his voice mail, and heard Kevin's voice saying that he had been floating on a cloud all day, and noticed that Skip was worried; but not to worry, because he (Kevin) was in a better place now.

And on Sept. 16th, the following e-mail message was received from Linda Faye Marlin Jacobs, '66: "Attention New News. In our memorials you have Kevin Temple class of 72 has passed away. Good news. For the second time in history, return from death has been confirmed. I actually saw and talked to Kevin and after recovery from my initial shock of seeing this person who had returned from the dead, driving his SUV and stopping and speaking to me, we had a nice conversation. During this conversation he confirmed to me he had received many calls of condolences of his "demise." So if you would like, you may take his name from the deceased list and place him back among the living. We always knew we were something special going to Isaac Litton; but I feel blessed to confirm that one of our members has returned from the dead. Oh what a joyous day!"

So, yes; the erroneous listing is well known now and, although, we regret the error, we're relieved to know that it was the source of good natured humor.

By the way; so far, no one really knows what prompted Kevin's name to be on the deceased list in the first place.