By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—Cliff Kenyon of Brandon has received a “Rays of Kindness” award from Governor Phil Scott in recognition of “his efforts to spread joy and kindness to all he meets.” Mr. Kenyon received a letter from the Governor along with a declaration bearing a gold seal.
Mr. Kenyon was nominated for the award by Anne Chartrand, Chayanne Dezeree Towne, and Harriet Wyman. Ms. Wyman said in a written message, “I met Cliff when he started coming into the Transfer Station in Brandon. He was always kind toward my son and always treated him with appreciation for how Jon helped him whenever he came in. He was always so sweet and kind and thoughtful. He’s always positive. One day, out of the blue, he brought me a rose just because he’s just one of those people who see the good in others and appreciate what others do.”
Mr. Kenyon, 67, hails from Poultney originally. As a young man, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, achieving the rank of Petty Officer, 2nd Class. He spent 6 years in military service, from 1974 to 1981. He worked on gun systems and traveled the world.
“I went through the Suez Canal and was deployed to the Persian Gulf during the Iran Hostage Crisis,” he said in a recent conversation at the Brandon Free Public Library.
After the Navy, Mr. Kenyon relocated to Brandon to work at the Brandon Training School, where he was employed from 1982 to 1985.
“I worked with the residents in the dorms,” he said.
Later, he had a series of other jobs around the area, including running a convenience store. Now retired, he’s still quite busy making wreaths every fall. The first wreath of the season always goes to the Pittsford Veterans Day ceremony, he said. He sells wreaths to customers as far away as Maine, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and even Florida.
But mostly he busies himself by finding ways to bring joy to people’s lives. As Ms. Wyman noted, he likes to give flowers to brighten people’s day. The employees at Hannaford in Brandon are frequent beneficiaries of his acts of kindness. Though he doesn’t work at the store, he sometimes brings in carts from the parking lot, just to help out.
“I don’t suffer from ‘not-my-job-ism,’” he laughed. “I once even bought a half-dozen roses for one of the cashiers. She said I made her day.”
Mr. Kenyon tries to bring lightness to the lives of those around him even when he’s been dealt some difficult blows. He’s been dealing with an aggressive form of cancer since 2014 and underwent intense radiation treatment. He’s been left with lingering effects from the disease but it hasn’t dimmed his outlook on life.
“I just keep going. I refuse to lose my sense of humor. I try to make people smile. God kept me around to help people,” he said.
He’s also recently finished a book that’s scheduled to come out in the spring. A Western novella in the vein of Louis L’Amour, it’s called “Slater” after the main character. Kenyon plans to give readings of it once it’s published. One of his 4 living children, daughter Angel Lee, is also an author, having written a trilogy called “Kindred.”
And his desire to make life fun extends to his social media, where he runs games and contests on his Facebook account. Participants can even win prizes. A recent contest had participants guess the number of pieces of candy in a photograph he posted. Anyone who’d like to join in should feel free to send him a friend request.
Though the award was announced in late August, Mr. Kenyon felt too modest to bring it to public attention until his sister prodded him to contact the local paper, which he recently did.
“She said, ‘This is a big deal. You should tell someone,’” he recalled.
“It made me feel proud,” he continued. “You know, it’s how you do all year ‘round, not just at times like Christmas. It’s a year-round way of being. People sometimes think you have an ulterior motive when you’re nice to them. But I just like to make people smile.”
Congratulations, Cliff!
