Goodbye Ken and Patricia

Ken Daneliuk and Patricia Rodgers passed away tragically on Monday morning. They were crossing the old Island Highway. It was dark, wet and they, by all accounts, dashed across the road after getting off a bus. They were hit by an SUV near the Ocean Grove Store.
We do hundreds of stories in a given year and most of the people we write about are people we have known for years as part of our news beats, or they are people we've never met until we interview them for a story. Others we never do get to know and only know of them through a third party.
I never knew Ken and Patricia and I never met them directly. I used to see them regularly on the rare occasion I would take the bus into work. One or the other of them was usually on the bus when I got on. Sometimes they both were there.
Ken was a distinct individual. He had kind of a hunched over posture and a frequent smile. I once took a picture of him when I did a story on the Beacon Club's manager planning to walk the Great Walk from Gold River to Tahsis. He and small group of club members gathered round the manager's foot to pretend to tie her laces. Ken rounded up some people for the picture, cheerfully mugged for the camera and was an all-round good sport.
Whenever I saw him on the bus, he was frequently joining Patricia. They were known as "boyfriend and girlfriend" and it was obvious that Ken doted on Patricia. He watched out for her. Directed her as to where to go. Kissed her goodbye affectionately.
They both had their challenges but were obviously happy with each other. They obviously spent a lot of time with each other; how much, I couldn't say. They left this world together, however, in a sudden and tragic way. Their memorial is tomorrow (Feb. 10).