Three sites have been dedicated to the late Ken Braithwaite

His friends and family may be pleased to know: three sites have been dedicated to the late Ken Braithwaite.

• A "Friends of Kenneth Braithwaite" FaceBook Group has been created. This social networking site accommodates text, still images, videos, links, music, and other media posts, and facilitates communication amongst participants.
  
• The Social-Organizational Psychology Program at Columbia Teachers College has posted Program Information: Memorial Service for Doctoral Candidate Kenneth Braithwaite.


• A guest book has been connected to Ken's online obit at boston.com. I won't post the link, as: (1) the guest book will be deleted in November, 2008 unless someone pays to sponsor it, and (2) there's no need for anyone to sponsor a commercial guest book, as Friends of Kenneth Braithwaite (or another site like it) can serve the same purpose, in perpetuity, for free.

Kenneth Noel James Braithwaite: Contact Info, January 10 Memorial Service at Columbia Teachers College, Published Research

INTRODUCTION:

The blogosphere is a powerful tool. Case in point: many people have contacted me in response to Tribute to Kenneth Noel James Braithwaite (August 1966-November 2007).

Apparently, some had learned about Ken's death through this electronic grapevine. Others had found the post via online searches and word of mouth, and contacted me to obtain and share details about Ken's death, life and going home services. In all cases, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but glad my online tribute has been informative.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

I don't mind being contacted about Ken. However, I'm reluctant to provide unpublished personal details to strangers. Of course, a telephone conversation can easily "qualify" folks as legitimate friends of Ken's, and I welcome such chats. They tend to prove informative and comforting for me as well as for those who phone.

Additionally, I'd like to refer those with questions to his family's place of worship, St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church [239 Harvard Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, Tel. (617) 354-8582], and to the Social-Organizational Psychology Program office at Columbia Teachers College ("TC"), where he was close to completing his Ph.D.

MEMORIAL SERVICE:

Ken's professors and colleages at TC will be holding a memorial service on January 10, 2008 at 7:00 P.M., Eastern Time. A small reception will follow. The location will be 179 Grace Dodge Hall, at 525 120th Street, New York, NY 10025 [get directions]. Please RSVP to Lynda Hallmark, Program Manager for Social-Organizational Psychology by January 4th [email: hallmark AT tc.edu], and specify: (1) that you will attend, and (2) whether or not you would like to say a few words.

Feel free to invite other friends of Ken.

PUBLISHED RESEARCH:

Interested in reading Ken's published research? He co-authored the following article with his doctoral advisor:

Westaby, J.D., & Braithwaite, K.N. (2003). Specific Factors Underlying Reemployment Self-Efficacy: Comparing Control Belief and Motivational Reason Methods for the Recently Unemployed. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 39, 415-437.

Tribute to Kenneth Noel James Braithwaite (August 1966-November 2007)

Thanksgiving weekend 2007 was not festive for everyone. Case in point: the sudden, unexpected loss of Kenneth Noel James Braithwaite (August 1966-November 2007), earlier in the week, gave a new, darker, meaning to "Black Friday."

Nonetheless, the week's events gave me a new reason to give thanks.

Instead of driving up from the Big Apple on November 23, 2007 (the day after Thanksgiving) to accept Ken's invitation to "hang out" in Beantown, I made the trip for a solemn reason: to attend Ken's Celebration of Life services. The wake and funeral services were held at Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Cambridge; interment was at Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett (in a plot shared with his mother, Audrey).

What a contrast to the last times Ken and I had hung out in Massachusetts. On another holiday weekend, he, another Columbia classmate, and I had had a grand time driving there in my two-door coupe. For this planned, November trip, Ken and I had assumed that we would use my four-wheel drive vehicle to access out-of-the-way haunts, and otherwise pahk the cah neah Hahvahd Yahd and take the "T" around town. [I enjoyed teasing Ken about his Massachusetts accent.]

You know what they say about the word "assume." Ken rode not in my green SUV with New York plates or on Boston Mass Transit's Red or Green Line this weekend. Rather, he took his final ride on Friday at noon, in a shiny black hearse with Massachusetts DMV plate number 2025.

I rue not visiting Ken sooner, as he'd suggested. I still hadn't learned my lesson: death never comes at convenient times. Consequently, those in the know prioritize opportunities to spend time with loved ones, and accordingly avoid suffer the consequences I'm currently experiencing.

By George, I think I've finally got it now. The school of hard knocks is quite effective.

So I finally made it to Ken's home in Massachusetts, but for the wrong reason. His bicyles in the hallway, his laptop on the table beside the sofa, his blue jacket draped over the loveseat arm, and his passport and photographs were eerie, material reminders of his accomplishments as an athlete, professional, globetrotter and debonair bachelor. Ken was also a gifted scholar with degrees from Buckingham Browne and Nichols, Tufts College and Columbia University, whose dissertation proposal had recently been approved by his doctoral committee in Organizational Psychology.

Ken's profile was impressive, yes. However, it was the presence, the shared stories, and the tears of those of us who loved him that demonstrated the real measure of the man. Kenneth Noel James Braithwaite was a beloved son, uncle, and friend who will not be forgotten. I am truly thankful for his friendship and for the time we shared.