Kennedy Barnes - Mr. James Upshall

[NeverBend]

Wow, what a great day.

I last saw Ken (Kennedy) Barnes about 27 years ago. After his father, Major Ken Barnes died in 1981 (I believe), Kennedy took over the Tilshead Pipe Company, makers of James Upshall and Tilshead pipes. I imagine that you all know the relation of James Upshall to Charatan (if not I'll post a bit about it).

I met Ken in April of 1982 at the factory and later that year became his USA/Canada importer and distributor. Ken quickly became one of my closest and most valued friends. It was a sad day when he left the company and I'd not seen nor heard from him since. I believe that was late 1988.

I've made many Internet searches over the years trying to find and make contact with Ken but there's nary a word about him anywhere that I looked. No mention of his pivotal role in making James Upshall the best selling handmade pipe in the world. It was as if he never existed and I take umbrage at that.

Short story is that Rich Lewis (Lewis Pipe & Tobacco, Minneapolis) found him and gave me a LinkedIn email address but Ken's replies went into my Promotions folder and were never seen. Today, Rich forwarded his regular email address to me and Ken and I have been writing back and forth.

He's well and I'll write more, with his permission, but to anyone that misses a long lost friend, and that's happened to me several times, I urge you to keep trying to make contact, the rewards are worth the effort.

Hey Ken!!!


(can a moderator please change the spelling in the title of the thread to KENNEDY? Thanks!)