Goodbye, My friend...
Ken Shogren
United States
Rochester
Michigan
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Today I learned the sad news of the passing of my good gaming friend, Dr. Dennis Kelsey.
Dennis Kelsey
United States
Wyandotte
Michigan
His passing was sudden; brought on from complications of advanced stage cancer. He is survived by his wife and children... and many gaming friends. I will miss him greatly at the game table.
I've included a few notes below about gaming with my friend - a small tribute to the memories we shared. If you knew Dennis, please feel free to comment below.
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Ken Shogren
United States
Rochester
Michigan
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I met Dennis in October 2005 through the Rochester-Oakland Boardgamers Association (ROBA). Back then I recorded every game I played, who I played with and even the game scores! The first game Dennis and I ever played was Age of Steam. It was a tough 5-player engagement on the Germany map with 3 experienced players and 2 absolute first time players. Dennis was one of the new guys and while he struggled through the game, his demeanor never wavered despite the 16 point deficit to the winner. In my game session notes I recorded 2 simple words about Dennis that day...
"Good Player"
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2.
Board Game: Siena
[Average Rating:6.19 Overall Rank:2057]
Ken Shogren
United States
Rochester
Michigan
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Dennis and I played several games over the next meetings of the game club and it quickly emerged that he and I shared a love of trying new and different games. Siena was one of those games that I had picked up because I thought the mural as game board was a cool idea. I struggled to get takers to even try the game. Dennis was open to trying a game, even if it didn't align with his interests. He won this one... which was a surprise, because...
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Ken Shogren
United States
Rochester
Michigan
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...winning for either Dennis or I seemed to be an impossible event. In fact, we had a running joke / contest to see who would claim the coveted position of last place in any game we both played in. Our ability to lose was so strong that when we played The First World War, after the long 2-3 hour grudge match of failed efforts (and catastrophic die rolling) it came down to a single final battle. On the final roll of the game, whoever survived would win. We rolled... and both lost.
After re-checking the rules, it turned out his surrender result was just a bit better than my failure and so he squeaked out the win. We both agreed that both of us losing was a far better result based on how the game had gone for both of us.
To this day, that game is one of my most memorable game plays.
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Ken Shogren
United States
Rochester
Michigan
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In 2007 my daughter was born. Her birth coincided with the summer game conventions, so I couldn't attend the big game conventions. So I invented my own and invited a small group of friends.
Dennis was one of the early arrivals and one of the last to leave (often 20+ hours later) every year. During the convention (and especially later at night) he and I would find ourselves spending more time talking than playing games. Dennis was a strong and vocal supporter of personal accountability. In story after story of his, I always found him to be true to this belief and I found it very inspiring.
I never got a chance to play this game with Dennis, but several of the con guests in 2010 did, including my wife. Dennis always was willing to teach games to others. In addition to his many diverse skills, he was a teacher and his teaching method was one of extreme patience. The 5 or so new and non-gamers that he taught this game to all enjoyed the convention. I credit Dennis for this.
For the convention guests, I write a book (~150 - 200 pages) about games and gaming events. In 2010, as my daughter was preparing to go to bed, he asked her to sign his copy of the book. She needed help writing a 'K' so I showed her how. She replied "that's not a very good 'K' Dada!". Dennis found that to very humorous and would remind me from time to time about it.
Leading up to the 2011 convention, Dennis and I traded some playful banter about claiming the title of 'first loser'. Unfortunately, he had to cancel at the very last minute due to a medical issue with his father. When I saw him next, he apologized for missing the convention and politely asked if he could possibly have a copy of the convention book I write each year for the event. When I provided him a copy, he quickly asked 'Is it signed this year?'. It was, of course!
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5.
Board Game: Maria
[Average Rating:8.08 Overall Rank:130]
Ken Shogren
United States
Rochester
Michigan
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Dennis loved history and had an interest in games that crossed the line between Euro and war game. One of his favorite games (that I know of) was Friedrich. He routinely attended the world championships in Berlin each year. On several occasions, he kindly offered to cart back games for me that were only available in Germany. I owe several games in my collection to his transport services.
I had tried Friedrich and while I found the game interesting, I was not as comfortable with the strong 'imbalance' in the powers. Dennis and I discussed the game design extensively and I really grew to appreciate what he saw in the game. And I think he understood what I objected to. When Dennis showed up at the game club with Maria - I was hesitant to jump in, but Dennis assured me that the game had all of 'cool' parts of Friedrich without the parts I didn't like. I opted to trust him and gave the game a try. He was exactly right. This game was exactly what he promised and we had an excellent 3 player game.
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Ken Shogren
United States
Rochester
Michigan
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The last game I was privileged to play with Dennis was this new Wallace game. Dennis was a big fan of several of Wallace's designs, so he agreed to come over to my place after the normal game club and teach me the game. We played late into the night/morning. In the end, his French forces bested me. Even in victory, he was convinced that he should have lost due to some minor rules errors and a bit of luck that fell his way.
While Dennis and I always joked about losing, we are both competitors to the end. We shared a vocal frustration of things going horridly wrong during a game BUT there is one key difference between us. Dennis was the consummate gentleman with every loss. If I learn anything from my gaming with him, I sincerely hope it is that I learn to lose with his grace.
The game has ended, my friend, and no matter what the scores may be, you are a winner. Thank you for the games and life lessons.
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O'Fallon
Missouri
Shelby Township
Michigan
Arlington
Virginia
I don't think I mentioned this to anyone at BGG.com before, but two and a half years before I joined BGG.com, I was taking care of my father from Aug. 2006 to May 2007. He died of prostate cancer and bone cancer (from what someone once told me, it was probably from my father's exposure to Agent Orange during his one year serving in Vietnam, 1968-1969; he was in the US Army from 1954-1977 and retired a lieutenant colonel). Half his ashes are buried at Arlington Memorial Cemetery, the other half in the garden at his last church, St. Peter-in-the-Woods in Burke, Virginia.
Over the years, he introduced me to games like "Emperor of China", his homemade version of "Monopoly" (with a mini-stock-market, but it only had 4 stocks to invest in; and insurance that could keep you from getting financially gutted by someone's hotel-dominated property), chess (both handcarved wooden pieces bought in Germany and handcarved ivory pieces bought in Hong Kong; chess board was bought in Shah-era Iran), Poker (chips only, no real money), etc.
I tried to return the favor when I helped take care of him during his last 9 months of life on Earth, and game-wise we usually played Scrabble (14 letter house rule, not the 7 letters in the actual rules), and Freecell on the computer (if he played, I helped; if I played, he helped). We also played piano to each other, and read to each other from books that we both liked (Winnie the Pooh and Asterix, to name two).
I still miss him alot.
Rochester
Michigan
Thank you to all of you for the kind words for Dennis and his family.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart