Saturday, April 3, 2010

Classmate and Author Yvonne Hendrickson Reports Alzheimer’s Disease Effects Claimed Her Husband Ken on March 26, 2010

Yvonne Spaulding Hendrickson DHS53 sent me a short email of Ken’s death. He battled Alzheimer’s for some time. This horrible disease gradually destroyed Ken’s brain/memory and the ability to do all the activities he loved to do. He knew what was happening to him and depended on Yvonne to help with every daily activity and all modesty was lost. He did keep his ability to know and recognize Yvonne and family members right to the end. Other medical complications and phenomena took his life quickly on his final day.

They plan a Family and Friends Celebration of Life next Saturday, April 10, 2010. According to his last wishes he was cremated. Ken’s additional humorous request for the Celebration is a hearty meal as his close friend is a big eater. Yvonne says that a Alzheimer symptom is loss of taste. However, Ken did kept his taste for sweets until the end.

Music was the core of Ken’s life and also shared by Yvonne. They were close friends of Vern Clark, the famous DHS Band Teacher. Ken will be especially missed by his close knit fellow musicians. He played a base fiddle so his contribution was like the musical heart beat of all the bands he played with.

Yvonne has weathered this horrible experience with a profound understanding of Alzheimer’s disease. Her descriptions of the events and daily trials are very moving . . . she is a strong, loving person. She remains a tireless supporter of anything related to Deadwood High School and cares deeply about her classmates. Yvonne is also a dear friend of mine and a long time supporter of the dhsclassmates web site. She has written a book and contributed a number of web site articles. See Yvonne's Deadwood Book Signing and other articles related to Yvonne.

Let me know if you need Yvonne’s contact information . . . The Tacoma News Tribune will have a Kenneth B. Hendrickson obituary tomorrow. A more personal obit will follow in the Black Hills news soon.

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