On Thursday as I was preparing to go to my childhood friend's son's Celebration of Life Service I received a call from a dear friend just as he found another lifelong friend who'd passed away. He physically had just found him and called me. I only say this because that morning, Thursday Sept. 13th. before the call, I was down, real down and was questioning certain things about life, my life. Then the call.
It was almost, or was, a sign to me. Jeff Mckinnell was my friend of over 40 years. I was with him almost nightly in 2007, 2008, 2009 when he was running a spot by my home in Lee's Summit. Jeff was a beautiful soul. I can hear him now,"Captain Q! How are you? Cappy, El Capitan! Mikey..." That voice was so caring and compassionate, I loved him. Jeff was about 5 years older than me and I met him through Tony Carr and Kenny Schriemann so our memories weren't that of me as just a little kid but friends of his friends, which made me a friend not just a little kid from the neighborhood.
My biggest memory comes through that of my daughter. When she was diagnosed with leukemia, a blood disease, that demolishes your immune system. We were isolated to the house because, there was no immune system. So we couldn't trust that any restaurant would be up to par on their cleanliness or trust that they'd do the right thing. When Jeff, Brian Donigan (owner of Beauchamps), and Joe Beauchamp heard about our situation they said nonsense. They would open up a dining room exclusively for my girl. No others just us. They made my chld, my precious little girl, the VIP of the place.
Jeff who along with Brian are fabulous cooks. Brian with that tomato sauce and meatballs, and almost everything and Jeff an all round expert in many dishes created ANYTHING she wanted. Joe being the man with the Chef title oversaw the operation and came out with what he thought she'd like as well, and Joe has a big presence so the three of them made my child feel so special and forget she was sick for a minute. They would handle all the dishes and whatever she ordered then they'd throw in several unexpected dishes to her surprise. They loved on us with their food. These actions took my child's pain away for a few hours and they made her feel special when she wasn't feeling so special, like all little girls should.
To say I'll miss him is an understatement but to never hear that, " Ole Capitan...Whaz up!" weighs heavy on my heart, but I know that good man, Jeff Mckinnell, is serving up a signature dish high above. And smiling with that shit grin he always had. Jeff you're the poster child for that saying, "If you ever met him you'd never forget him" because he was that great of a person and he held a presence, a presence that if you were in it you knew you were OK, because he was beautiful like that, I love you brother man, until I see you next time and hear those famous, want to be a Good Fella, words "...ora di mangiare!"
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