Let Spirit of Slain Executive Rest in Peace

* Re: “Grandmother Pleads Guilty to Killing Her Son-In-Law,” Dec. 1.

Ken Lisi’s murderer was not the only person on trial. Also on trial was the character of a man who can no longer speak for himself: Therefore, I must speak for him.

I knew Ken well for nearly 30 years, beginning in high school. Ken was warm, witty, honest, sensitive, talented, humane. My family loved him. My daughters adored him. I have never quite met his equal since.

After his murder, I notified three of our mutual friends from the early days. The one living in Michigan wrote back immediately, in a letter almost incoherent in its grief and loving memories. The other friends talked about his kindness, his generosity, an essential sweetness one seldom finds. To see Ken so vilified now is almost unbearable.

We who loved him will care for his memory now, regardless of what attorneys or a conveniently anonymous source “close to the Haynes family” might say. Ken Lisi was a man with a gift for loving and for being loved. The packed church on the day of his funeral attested to that. Let him--finally--be at peace.

LYNN M. McDONIE

Saugus