On January 16, Ron Kirk, 46 of Las Vegas, sent his sister a text saying he was going hiking. It was the last anyone would hear from him.
Word spread to Chicago about a week after Ron’s disappearance that he had not been heard from in a few days. I immediately sent him a text to check on him. This was not the first time I had sent him this type of text. He was known for doing some pretty wacky things. One time he rode his bike down I-290 and passed out on the side of the highway. Another time at a big hash event he jumped in the Chicago River and went for a swim (the Chicago River is not the place to just go for a swim). He always ran without his shirt, no matter the temperature and made snow angels like a kid without a care in the world.
My favorite story about Ron (and probably the one he will be mostly remembered by in the Chicago Hash) is about his attendance at Green Dress in 2008. Green Dress is a large hash even that takes place in St. Louis around St. Patrick’s Day. Everyone wears green dresses and runs around town. As it is a travel hash, there is even more debauchery and drunkenness than at a usual hash. Chicago hashers took the MegaBus down from Chicago to St. Louis that year. On the way down, he almost got left at one of the stops for the bus because he went to go buy more alcohol. After the main event that Saturday he was renamed “Dry Erase Board” since he passed out in the “hashpitality” suite and everyone wrote all over him. He disappeared from the hash for a while after that, but showed up again. He was at my first hash in December of that year.
Many searches were organized immediately after his disappearance and did not stop until he was found on March 10. A hiker spotted Ron’s body below Turtle Head Peak at Red Rock Canyon, about 20 miles from where his Jeep was located in Calico Basin in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Clark County Coroner determined that Ron died from injuries he sustained from a fall. He did not suffer.
The discovery of Ron’s body brings great sadness and relief. Sadness because a man that was a part of many lives is now gone forever, but relief because his family and friends will now get the proper closure they deserve. There will be memorials in Las Vegas and St. Louis. Ron will be buried in the Chicago area with full military honors.
Ron Kirk was many things: son, brother, friend, Marine, hiker, hasher. He will be missed by all who knew him.
Here’s to you brother hasher! On-Ron!
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