KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK
“For many years now, I have sought for some reasonable explanation as to why I made the most ruinous and destructive decision of my life. That I was very afraid, I already know. Why I was afraid and why I chose that catastrophic course of action to deal with my fear is what completely bewilders me now. Perhaps part of it was because I made that decision when I was only seven years old, and I was afraid, and very alone.” — Kevin John White writing in his book, Dancing on a Razor. He is shown here receiving a 2019 Best New Manuscript Award from Castle Quay Books Canada.
| WEDNESDAY
MAY 27, 2020 | Volume 33 No. 35 kamloopsthisweek.com kamloopsthisweek kamthisweek
MURDER VICTIM WAS AWARDWINNING AUTHOR TIM PETRUK STAFF REPORTER tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
T
he man stabbed to death in his North Kamloops apartment two months ago was a celebrated author who was working on his second book. He left behind a daughter and two grandsons who had only recently begun to know him. Kevin White was also a longtime alcoholic who often found himself on the margins of society, a lifestyle that formed the basis of much of his writing. White, 59, died following a violent altercation inside a Carson Crescent apartment building on March 28. Described by friends and family as a travelling busker, White moved to Kamloops last year to be close to his daughter, whom he hadn’t seen much of in the preceding 20 years. “He was a travelling man,” Jane Hainstock, White’s 26-year-old daughter, told KTW.
“He lived in the mountains. He was a hitchhiker and a busker. He made his money playing in the street.” *** A year ago, White was presented with a Best New Manuscript Award from Castle Quay Books Canada, a Christian publisher based in the Toronto area. His book, Dancing on a Razor, was celebrated in the Canadian Christian non-fiction genre. “This is not a typical ‘alcoholic gets saved’ kind of book,” White was quoted as saying in a press release dated May 21, 2019, calling the tome “an intriguing and truly rare story” with broad appeal. White was not saved from his alcoholism, though he did enjoy bouts of sobriety while in Kamloops in the last months of his life. Hainstock said her dad arrived last fall and stayed with her for a couple of months. “He had his issues, but he wasn’t drinking,” she said. “He was doing his sober thing and he was writing another book.”
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Hainstock, a mother of two young boys, said White was also getting to know his grandchildren. “With my children, oh man, they loved him so much,” she said. “They’re shy little boys and they adored him. He taught me so much, too, and I longed for him. He was just someone you would look at and think nothing of, but in reality, he was the most down-to-earth, smart man.” Hainstock said she kicked her father out of her house in December after he started drinking again. He moved into a downtown rental. According to Hainstock, tensions were high. “I was like, eff you,” she said. “The sole reason he came out here was to get to know me and my kids. I was like, ‘You’re not going to come here and lose yourself — you’re not going to know me by doing this.’” See WHITE, A14
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