I recently lost two high school friends during the same week. It was heartbreaking for me, so I can’t imagine how their families are managing.
Melanie Dawn Hoback and I met before we ever started kindergarten. She was, in fact, my oldest childhood friend. We used to go to Yost Chapel Freewill Baptist Church together as children. Her mamaw, Corrine Lane, was our Sunday school teacher.
Melanie had one of the most beautiful soprano voices out there. One of my favorite memories are her belting out “We’ve Got the Beat” by The Go-Go’s. She loved Belinda Carlisle. My absolute favorite memory of her singing, though, was as Lucy in our 5th grade production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. She owned that part! She owned that play. I played Peppermint Patty. I remember everyone in the cast so vividly. We were all so young, the future bright before us. We were the superstars of North Tazewell Elementary School. Then the next year, we would be thrown into Tazewell Middle School with kids from about six or seven other elementary schools and find out we weren’t all that. The superstars there would herald largely from Tazewell Elementary, the “town” kids, as opposed to us “out of town limits” kids. We’d all find or make our places eventually. But that 5th grade year, we were royalty. And Lucy reigned supreme!
We were in choir together during our whole school careers, as far as I can remember. She was big-hearted, had an infectious laugh, and a mischievous smile. She loved to pinch cheeks. As her mom said, Melanie loved big. She didn’t know how to just like someone. She went all in if she liked you. She had strong political views. But if she loved you, she would tell you straight up, she could love you, anyway.
Mel, as her close friends called her, went on to have two children, Thad Ball and Rachel Dennis. Her partner, Blue Dennis, is one of the sweetest men you’d ever hope to meet. Her mom, Cathy, grew up with my mom. They were childhood friends, too. Her younger sister, Angie, who also had an amazing set of pipes, passed away tragically a few years ago. Cathy lost her best friend when she lost Melanie last month, and my heart goes out to her. To lose your daughter and your best friend all at once is a tragedy, indeed. Mel fought cancer last fall, and we thought she beat it. It came back this summer. She died at Wake Forest on October 24. But she’ll live forever in my memory and in my heart.
Kevin David Linkous-Smith also went to North Tazewell Elementary. He was two years behind me in school, but we went to the same church when I was in high school, Dailey’s Chapel United Methodist Church. Kevin and I didn’t stay in touch as much after we left Tazewell as adults, but we did still talk some on Facebook.
I never mentioned the movie The Lost Boys that he didn’t write the word, “Michael!” And I always heard it in Jami Gertz’s character Starr’s trembling, overdramatic voice, one of the parts Kevin and I always laughed about as teens.
We used to go driving around together on weekends sometimes, because I was two years older. When he was going through driver’s ed, he would point out every little thing I was doing wrong, and then I’d give him even more to point out, taking curves on Hubble Hill at 60 mph in the rain, hearing him scream as we coursed over those backroads, landing at the stop sign at the bottom, just to hear him breathlessly whisper, “Let’s do it again!”
On Sunday mornings, he frequently sat on the same pew as me. He always bounced his knees, and I reached over and put my hands on them to stop the bouncing. As soon as I moved my hand away, the bouncing began again. One of my favorite church memories was the day he sang the words of “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard to the tune of “I’ll Fly Away,” while I tried really hard not to lose control and laugh out loud. Another day, during handshaking during the collection being taken up, he turned to me and did a dramatic recitation of “Love Bites,” by Def Leppard, quietly, of course, with my face turning red, and me cracking up as he ended stoically, “Oooh, babe.”
He was a great tennis player in addition to being a talented musician – for real, no jokes on the musician part. I wanted to learn to play tennis, so he volunteered to teach me. He never once lost his temper or told me I had no business on a tennis court, even when we ended up three courts down from where we started, less than ten minutes after we’d begun. I’m sure he was relieved when I went back to writing and he could quit chasing the tennis ball wherever I happened to lob it at any given time. He was gracious and gentle in his instruction. We were in several high school plays and performances together. And a choir trip to Washington, DC, where he introduced me to Bette Midler, beyond “Wind Beneath My Wings,” which was popular at the time. He was always teaching me something. And I’m a better person for that.
On October 25, Kevin succumbed to a heart attack while helping out in his community. Kevin was married to Shane Linkous-Smith and they had a son, Jackson. They lived in Baton Rouge, where both Kevin and Shane were very active in the community in various ways. Always giving in some way. That’s who Kevin always was and who he continued to be long after leaving Tazewell. His mother died many years ago, sweet, gentle soul that she was – she made the best cinnamon rolls in the universe. He is also survived by his father, Jimmy, and stepmother, Grace Ann Linkous.
My heart mourns both of these losses. Two great big pieces of my life are missing now. Memories will have to sustain me until we meet again. And thank God there are plenty of those to bring smiles through the tears. Rest easy, my friends.
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