For as long as I can remember, my Uncle Ken was always telling jokes. Christmas, Easter, birthday parties, graduations, weddings, even funerals. He had that rare natural talent to bring a smile to your face using humor no matter what the occasion.

That’s what I’ll miss most about him. Last Saturday, after a courageous battle against cancer, he died at the Abraham House in Utica, N.Y. A funeral for family and friends was held Friday. I wasn’t able to attend, but I’ve thought about him a lot this week.

Every year on Christmas Eve, it was Uncle Ken who gave the toast. With 40-some people gathered together at my great Aunt Mary’s house, we listened to his words carefully before the traditional Polish feast. More recently, he would spend every Sunday morning at Aunt Mary’s house for breakfast. Family was important to him, and no matter what the occasion, you could always count on seeing Uncle Ken there.

Uncle Ken was a frequent reader of my blog. You might have even read his comments without even knowing it. Under the username “BR/GL,” he critiqued my conservative views or complimented something I’d done. I asked him what the initials “BR/GL” meant one time I saw him during a visit back home. “Be right, go left,” he told me.

We disagreed often on the subject of politics. Our last correspondence came in November, a day after the presidential election. “The election results were good, and may even get better,” he wrote. But his purpose for writing wasn’t to brag about Obama’s victory. He met with his friend Jan Klotz of Ithaca that day and wanted to pass along his best wishes. A few years earlier, it was Uncle Ken who introduced me to Jan. We’ve corresponded since then, and even met up at a Bombers football game.

Uncle Ken’s job as Hamilton College’s financial aid director made it possible for thousands of students to get an education at the liberal arts college in Clinton, N.Y. I’ve met more than one Hamilton alumnus in Washington, D.C., who spoke highly of him when I mentioned our relation.

Uncle Ken was a people person. As his obituary says today, “If you knew Ken, you know he arrived in heaven eager to tell family and friends the latest joke, listen to some jazz, and then take them all to heaven’s version of Uncles or LBJs. He’ll save us all a seat.”

Please keep his wife, Pat, and son and daughter-in-law, Paul Kogut and Catherine Garypie, in your thoughts and prayers.