Kenny Borst was my brother. He was a loving son, a caring brother, a best friend to anyone, and he was a teacher. In the overnight hours of September 8th 2014, while at his home in Melbourne, Fl, an accidental fire claimed the life of my loving brother and life long best friend, Kenny Borst, he was just 41.
My brother and I grew up together, sharing the small room that was once deemed a master bedroom of a home that was renovated to accommodate a family of five, and we shared that room until we were teens. It was in those years that Kenny and I became best of friends. We would stay up far past our bedtimes talking, laughing, and just trying to see who would fall asleep first. I remember that we used to have a pair of bunk beds, and for whatever reason we used to put them up, take them down, put them together, and then back up again. I never gave it much thought as to why, but if I had to guess, it would have been so that Kenny could keep an eye on me as I was always the one that fell asleep first.
Over time, the years, as they often do, took us both in different directions, I moved to California and he to North Carolina. Although miles separated us, we knew that we always had someone there that we could depend on. So much so that to this day I still owe Kenny $150 for a bus ticket home from California, he would never ask me for it back. But that was Kenny, if he had it and he could give it to you he would.
In the week after his passing, I was broken, I wrote my brother a letter and placed it in his grave. In that letter I asked my brother to please put in my heart what he wanted me to do to honor him in his life and keep his name alive. In the coming weeks I thought of everything that I could, but only one thing stood out, the Kenneth M Borst Memorial Scholarship Foundation. That night my wife Casey and I discussed the means in which we would do this and the next day I spoke with my Father. In talking to him he made me aware that in life Kenny had already started a foundation, mainly for the school that he taught at, however did it just the exact same way that had come to my heart, I had no idea that he had done this, Kenny was a very modest person. Kenny read my letter, and by God’s hand he was able to touch my heart with his answer.
In life Kenny was “life”. He made the most of the time that he had with his loved ones, and shared an incredible love for animals. He was known to “adopt” just about any “lost” pet that he came by, giving them a loving home and a new beginning for some. When Kenny passed, he did so along side his three “lil ones” his much loved dogs, Oksana, Asriel and his pick of the litter, Aybayomi. I would dare to say that Kenny went just how he would have wanted, along side his beloved pets, together.