Halloween has always been a favorite holiday in my family. Typically our costumes were thrown together at the last minute – a sheet with eyeholes, the clown costume that was passed down for years from kid to kid, or using my mom’s nursing cape to dress up as a nurse (which I did) or for my brother to dress as Dracula. In this photo I believe Kevin is simply wearing the tutu from the “dead ballerina” next to him on his head. It didn’t matter, we just loved Halloween.

For those who knew Kevin, he was annoyingly creative.  One year, I decided to use a crown of candles that I had with a long white dress and he built me a wand with wooden dowel, a small light bulb and some sort of wiring to a batter back. The whole thing was covered in aluminum foil.

As adults, his creativity and his time spent in the theater took Halloween to new heights. Trick or Treating in the LA area varies depending upon where you live. It is not always like our childhood where you walk around your neighborhood. Kevin and I lived in neighborhoods that were spread out, with lots of apartments, many fenced in, so it wasn’t conducive to large groups of kids trick or treating. But his friends Sherri and Cara lived in a neighborhood where people drove to because it was the perfect layout. 

Sherri & Cara also loved Halloween, so together, they worked to to create a house worth visiting. The first year, the decorating was concentrated on the front door. He created a scary face with an opening through which they could pass out candy.

The next year, he outdid himself. Kevin spent weeks drawing, planning, and constructing. The entire driveway was covered. There were headstones, there was dry ice for smoke, There were columns on either side of an eery face, and this time, you walked through the mouth of the face to enter the garage where we were giving out candy. By far this was our best Halloween. The kids loved it, the parents loved it. The invest
ment was well worth it and Kevin was in his glory.

Halloween is a bit different now, but it is still one of my favorite holidays. When I first moved back east from CA, I landed in a small town in NJ and on the block behind me, there was obviously a couple with a background in theater. Each year, they rally the block, pick a theme and decorate the entire street. All I could think of was how much Kevin would love it.