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Last night, I lost a cousin to cancer.
My cousin Earl Kress was my only relative living in LA and one of my dad’s surviving first cousins. They practically grew up as siblings in south NJ and in the early 70’s Earl moved to LA to become a writer for cartoons. He was a writer on Disney’s “The Fox and The Hound” and later won Emmy’s for his work on “Pinky and The Brain” and “Animaniacs”. If you’ve seen a cartoon in the last 30 years, chances are Earl worked on an episode of it somehow.
We weren’t super close given our distance while I was growing up but we were able to connect more since I moved to LA, despite the less than 10 mile drive to Burbank from the Grove sometimes feeling like I would’ve been quicker to fly from WV.
Earl was different than my dad in his quiet demeanor, but very much like my dad with his sharp wit, constant creativity and being a student of his craft. He was an expert on classic Hanna Barbera cartoons and a trove of trivia about that era of animation.
For me, it’s another connection to my father lost. I was able to get a few stories about my dad from Earl and I’m very grateful for that. Also, having to deal with another death on my dad’s side of the family brings up feelings and thoughts I haven’t had to deal with in a good while.
I guess the hardest part about being an east coast(-ish) transplant in LA is trading in the happiness of work and weather and artistic community at the cost of missing valuable years with family, although I wouldn’t have it any other way right now.
So… RIP cousin Earl. Thank you for paving the way creatively a generation ahead in my family and thank you for helping me get on my feet in LA. I’ll do ya proud out here. “Pinky” swear.
