On Duck Fork

Chester Thacker March 24, 1951 - March 27, 2012

I met Chet and Judy many moons ago, when they were members of the Morehead Mafia. No, I didn't go to Morehead with Chet, but my brother, Steve, did. Steve and Chet were roomies at MSU, and got to be best friends by the end of their time together with the Eagles.

Well, they were both from Pike County, KY, although Steve and I went to Feds Creek on one side of this fairly large county and Chet and several of his cohorts went to Belfry, some forty miles away from our little hole in the road.

The Belfry gang had a positive impact on my brother, Steve's life. In addition to Chet, there was Jerry Battistello and Bill Bevins, to name but two. Rounding out the Morehead Mafia was Judy and Deb, sisters from Pikeville and daughters of a most engaging couple, Jim and Lena Kitchen. Yes, the same Deb who married Jerry and the same Judy who married Chet

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I remember t Chet and Judy’s wedding very well, BTW. It took place at the Zebulon Church of Christ, and was officiated over by Bill Ford, as I recall; a very lovely ceremony.

I distinctly remember when Chet took a job as an English teacher in Lee County, Ky. Lee County is on the edge of the mountains and not that far from the Bluegrass region. Its county seat is Beattyville and that was where the school that Chet taught in was located.

When Chet took the job, the first thing they needed to do was get a house, and they found one some distance from the school in a place called Duck Fork. That name was the butt of a lot of jokes, btw.

Chet and Judy found a house that belonged to an elderly lady who had operated a country store with her husband. He had passed away at the point, as I remember, and Chet and Judy were just about allowed to move into the house for taking care of it.

To get that job done, Chet and Judy called on the Morehead Mafia to come up and help clean up the house. That call was answered by my brother, Steve (he and I were sharing an apartment in Pikeville), and Jerry and Deb. Steve let me come along after a lot of begging, and we all had a ball painting and cleaning and what not. Before too long, the old home, which was a fantastic old farm house, was livable and Chet and Judy were in business.

It was about this time I found out that Chet's favorite poet was e. e. cummings. cummings, for those who know him, wrote poetry w/o much in the way of punctuation or capital letters. I'd got to know of him by what I'd read of him in high school, and that unconventional manner of writing caught my attention.

Chet was as unconventional as his favorite poet. I recognize it in the tributes his students have written in his memory. I don't doubt that the good Chet has done in his interaction with his students will live on for many years to come and will magnify itself many times before it is done.

My sympathy to those who survive Chet; I'm still as impressed with him today as I was all those many years ago when I first met him.

  dying is fine)but Death
e e  cummings

?o
baby
i

wouldn't like

Death if Death
were
good:for

when(instead of stopping to think)you

begin to feel of it,dying
's miraculous
why?be

cause dying is

perfectly natural;perfectly
putting
it mildly lively(but

Death

is strictly
scientific
& artificial &

evil & legal)

we thank thee
god
almighty for dying
(forgive us,o life!the sin of Death


Note, this is how the poem was published, and may show why he was Chester's favorite.