Goodbye, Kocians, Farewell

Joan and Dick Kocian will be living in Martha's Vineyard until October

How nice are Dick and Joan Kocian?  When some neighbors found a cute little homeless doggie on the easement, next to the McInerny’s house, and asked the Kocians for advice, the latter did not advocate calling me at ten o’clock at night to sound the alarm over the telephone tree. It’s easy to love neighbors like that. And easy to miss them when they leave.

Well, they’ve sold their house at 1224 Westway Drive. The huge moving van has gone with all the furniture. Joan and Dick are cleaning the house to leave it spic and span for the new buyers, Hannah and Hakan Thyresson. The closing was on Monday, April 25. That used to require lawyers and attending and signing interminable forms. No longer — the Kocians have signed all the forms, scanned them into the computer, and sent them off. That’s it. Unsentimental and efficient.

They’re from Connecticut, originally, with a big five bedroom house. Joan and Dick have been married for 35 years. They met while they were both in the chorus for the musical “Mame.” Joan owned a retail clothing business; Dick was an IT executive in New York City. That was before Blackberry time — one hour on the train in the morning to read the paper, one quiet hour on the train going home in the evening. And phone calls at all hours of the night when the system went down. In the 1991 recession, Dick’s job folded. Joan closed her business, and they sold their big house and moved to Martha’s Vineyard where they owned property. There, Dick went to work for USAir, both for the health insurance and the freebie trips — a plan that worked very well until 2001 when the airline gave up on the sparse traffic during the winter and became a seasonal operation to the Vineyard.

In Connecticut the Kocians had been friends of Rhoda and Herb Beningson’s, and in 2002 came to visit them in Lido Shores. One look at our beach, and they quickly bought the house at 1224 Westway Drive out of foreclosure. They’ve lived in it for nine years now, building a new master bedroom, adding a new garage and a cage for the pool. One good feature of the house is lots of storage. One bad feature of the house is lots of storage when you have to move out.

They’ve been exemplary neighbors — both have served on the LSPOA board. Joan has been a dependable source of information on the neighborhood, sometimes wrong but rarely in doubt. Dick has produced our neighborhood newsletter, taking care of the printing, affixing address labels, and mailing. They’ve both volunteered at the Ringling Museum, and helped set up the corps of volunteers for the Historic Asolo Theater’s “Monday Night at the Movies.”

They love the neighborhood, a wonderful private enclave only seven minutes from downtown (out of season) with good neighbors, great sunset gatherings, and cheerful potluck events. Happily, Dick and Joan have rented a house on St. Armand’s for next winter, three houses down from the Bank of America. Will they be able to join the LSPOA neighborhood events, even as alumni? Of course…as our honored guests.  ~Bob Garvin