Interview with Ken Hunter

Interview of Ken Hunter by Karin Forno,  January 28, 2021

Can you give us some background on yourself and how you came to be part of St. Mary’s?

I've been a member for the last nine years, since I moved to California in May of 2011.

What is noteworthy about my past is that I was working as a dermatologist in the local area until I lost my vision in both eyes January of 2013. This resulted in my having to quit working, quit driving, quit playing tennis, skiing, biking and doing all the sporting activities that I enjoy. It was a major disruption in my life to suddenly find myself without vision, without clear vision, which I had enjoyed all of my life up to that point. And I say that because I found that the pandemic was also equally disruptive to my lifestyle.

After I quit working in medicine, I became active as a volunteer in the local area and that became my second career. Volunteering on a daily basis was my way to remain active and keep my brain engaged in things that I found interesting. I embarked on a career of volunteerism, and I volunteered in a number of different organizations. And I'll just briefly mention that I volunteered at the blind and visually impaired center where I had originally gone when I lost my vision. I volunteered at the VA clinic in Marina, I volunteered at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I volunteered at my church at St. Mary's, and I also volunteered at the Carmel Foundation. In addition, I served on the vestry at St. Mary's, on the Board of Directors for the Blind and Visually Impaired Center, and also on the board of directors for the Carmel Foundation. So I was quite busy volunteering on a daily basis Monday through Friday, usually from about two to four hours, not any longer than that.

I found that when the coronavirus struck in February and March of 2020, all the organizations where I had been volunteering immediately closed as a result of the pandemic.

So I found myself thrust into another period of unemployment, so to speak, where I no longer had the outlets to volunteer such as I had enjoyed up until the onset of the pandemic. I had to reinvent myself for a second time and figure out what I was going to do to keep busy. What transpired was I was still able to serve on the board of directors for the BVIC [Blind and Visually Impaired Center] and the Carmel Foundation through the use of Zoom meetings. I was also able to serve as the coordinator or supervisor for the support group that met twice a month at the BVIC and we met by Zoom.  

The support group supports those who have also lost their vision and are struggling with the inability to see. This has been a support group that's been ongoing for a number of years and we had to switch to a Zoom style format. I was designated as the coordinator and supervisor for that endeavor. Also, a group of us from St. Mary's Church decided to form a happy hour Zoom meeting that met every Friday afternoon at five o'clock for an hour. And that was a great social outlet and allowed me to stay in touch with some of the St. Mary's parishioners that I had gotten close to. I also was able to form a book club with several members of the Blind and Visually Impaired Center.

Many of us are used to listening to audio books through the Braille and Talking Book Library out of Sacramento, California. And there is a system called BARD that allows one to download audio books over the computer onto a thumb drive and then to listen to that recording in an audio player provided by the Braille and Talking Book Library. The book club that I joined consists of about five members and we meet once a month and go over a new book each month. So that's kept me occupied as well.

Another wonderful experience in my life has been developing a pen pal with a woman in Texas, southern Texas, outside of San Antonio. And back in late May, I was talking to a mutual friend and asked him about his aunt. I said that I really enjoyed meeting her last February of 2009 when I was in Colorado and would he be kind enough to give me her number. He did. We started a phone conversation which has progressed to email correspondence. We’ve become very good friends over the past several months and look forward to the day when she can travel from Texas to California to visit me and I can travel from California to Texas to visit her. And we've developed such a strong relationship that we're even interested in possibly traveling together around the world to different sites and locations. That’s been an unexpected surprise during this pandemic to develop such a strong friendship with somebody who lives more than a thousand miles away because of the sheltering in place.

I’ve also gotten used to watching a lot of cooking shows on PBS. I have taken a strong interest in cooking and eating, particularly since I lost my vision. Going out to restaurants has been one of my most favorite pastimes, and so I've grown accustomed to watching cooking shows and then experimenting in my own kitchen, putting together different recipes that I share with family and friends in my immediate environment. Due to Coronavirus restrictions I have only been inviting immediate family members to my home for dinners, but that has been wonderful. And then another thing that I've enjoyed watching on PBS has been the show Check, Please, with Leslie Sabrocco.

This has been my attempt to vicariously enjoy the dining experience while sitting in my living room watching a TV show. So that's basically how I have been spending the pandemic reading, what I mean is, listening to audiobooks, engaging in Zoom meetings with friends and business associates, maintaining a pen pal relationship with a woman in Texas, and watching my cooking shows and getting together with immediate family for occasional meals and enjoying wine and cocktails. So that's my take on 2000 and the pandemic. It's been a long road. This continues to be a long road in 2021. But I feel confident that with the vaccines, we're going to come out of this in a very good position.

I did contract the coronavirus during  Christmas week. My roommate brought the virus into my apartment where I was exposed and my son was exposed. He [my roommate] ended up in the hospital for four days. His girlfriend is also over 85, and was admitted to the hospital for about four or five days. Fortunately, my involvement was minimal. I had a cough for about three days. My son had a headache for two days.

So I have had a brush with the coronavirus and fortunately I had a very minimal illness with that virus.

As careful as I was maintaining my social distance and wearing a mask whenever I left my apartment, I still could not refrain from being exposed to the virus.

It just goes to show how virulent this virus is. And even with taking great precautions, it's still quite possible to become infected with this pathogen. It’s very contagious and it's very insidious, because of the airborne transmission and unpredictability of things like air currents, and that's one of the most frightening things about it.

I was unable to continue volunteering at CSC because of the fact that I have an 88 year old roommate and the folks at CSC did not want me to bring the virus home to my elderly roommate. I volunteered my son, who's a college student at MPC, and because he's only 26 years of age, he was more than happy to go and volunteer at CSC one afternoon a week to help out in that ministry. I've also made it a point to attend virtual church on Sunday mornings via Zoom and then on Wednesdays, I've become very involved with the Lunchtime Lectio, which is a Bible study conducted by Kristine and Wendy and Scott.

One question I have is, of course, nobody really knows the answer to this, but is how do you imagine St. Mary's in the future as we come out of the pandemic? Do you think the pandemic will change us permanently or not?

I think everyone's going to be a little bit more aware of hygiene practices, but I think once we come out of the pandemic and no longer need to worry about social distancing and wearing a mask and hugging and shaking hands, I think we'll get back to the time when we were able to be much more sociable and more in touch with each other in a literal sense.

So I think we're going to be able to go back to what existed before the pandemic.  

How have you dealt with the uncertainty that's been so present during this pandemic?

There was so much uncertainty, Karin. And there was so much uncertainty on so many different levels that people were dealing with. I mean, the financial uncertainty of being able to provide for one's family, to be able to pay the mortgage or the rent, and to pay for food.

I think there were so many Americans that dealt with the uncertainty of not working and not earning an income.

I think it's really up to our government leaders in Congress to be able to provide some of that financial bridge that we need to get from one calamity to the next.

I think that the legislation to provide stimulus spending on behalf of the American public is going to be very critical. It's been critical so far. It's gone a long way in helping people stem the tide.

Could you elaborate maybe on what about this time has surprised you the most?

I think the biggest surprise has been the eagerness for people to get together on social media, by Zoom, by Skype, by phone.

I think what's been really heartwarming has been everyone's eagerness to reach out to other people and to maintain the social fabric that unites all of us. I think that has been, for me, one of the most heartwarming and satisfying experiences during this coronavirus.

Anything else you’d like to say?

I think one of the uncertainties that plagued us the past year was the mixed messages that we were receiving from our leaders and the inconsistent manner in which recommendations were performed by the American public. I think that was perhaps some of the most discouraging parts of the pandemic, was to get so many mixed messages and to see people responding in so many different ways to the recommendations or preferring not to adhere to the recommendations of social distancing and meeting in small numbers and wearing a mask. I think that was some of the most distressing aspects of the pandemic that I witnessed in the past year. I just hope that Americans going forward are going to be much more united in their attempts to overcome this virus. You know, this is as great a challenge to our country as World War II was. And when I think about what my parents and grandparents had to do to overcome the challenges of the Depression and then World War II, I think that we as a nation need to unite and come together to overcome this very real enemy that that is among us.