kirk aragon – lost 25 september 2011

Kirk Aragon was a former direct coworker, and long-time colleague of mine. Kirk died Sunday doing what he loved to do.

I first met Kirk a few days after starting Opsware in January of 2007. He was one of the “named resources” for dealing with our biggest customer, EDS. Kirk’s professionalism, friendliness, and over-powering happiness that exuded from him constantly was a fantastic encouragement to the entire team in Support. A few months later, he returned from his loan from ProServe to go back on the road.

I had the opportunity to learn from him frequently on a variety of subjects – flying (his passion), family, technical intricacies of the product we worked on, great places to eat, work/life balance, etc.

I’m going to quote one of the members of senior HP Management with regards to Kirk:

Kirk Aragon was a kind and loving person, helpful, professional, and a true gentleman.

For Kirk, aviation was his passion and true love. He embodied the American story. As a former Air force captain of 4 years he fuelled his passion for flight, and carried this on to building and flying his unique kit plane. While serving in the Air force, Kirk Met his wife Archana, and later became a very proud and loving father of 2 daughters (12 and 9).

He was beloved, respected and admired by his managers, his teammates and his customers.

Kirk will be remembered by all of us.

“Kirk was always happy as he seemed to always be upbeat. He was an awesome guy and demonstrated everything a professional could.”

“All he talked about was his wife, his beautiful girls, and his love of flying. Kirk was one of those guys you just had to love, and I know our team will miss him as much as I do.”

“Kirk was a gentleman, a friend and a professional.”

“I have not felt this way for a long time. My eyes are moist, and my heart is saddened. It is a sad, sad day. I’ve known Kirk since the days at Opsware. We had SA boot camp and dinner together a number of times. He is a great person, respected colleague, strong teammate, SA expert and friend. He always brought a colorful perspective to our exchanges and made the conversation lively. He is helpful, open and friendly. You feel close and personal with him. His ‘baby’ face is hard to forget. I miss him a lot.”

I am privileged to have counted Kirk as a dear colleague and am deeply grieved by his unexpected death. I hope our memories of Kirk will comfort us. Let us all support Kirk’s family with our deepest sympathy, prayers and thoughts.

Further, some comments left by his friends and colleagues on social sites:

“I remember the time a bunch of us went to ‘China Town’ for lunch and reallocated car pool distribution on the way back to the office and Kirk graciously volunteered to ride in the seat-free doggie/storage area in the back of my Forester since we were short a seat. Afterward, he just happily tumbled out with that impish smile that he shared so freely. I will miss Kirk.”

“Kirk was a great guy.”

“Wow…. this is very sad. He was a really nice guy.”

“I am so saddened to hear of Kirk’s passing.”

“Mourning the loss of a coworker. RIP Kirk. You were a great person.”

I know tributes like these don’t cover everything that needs to be said – and we always regret what we didn’t tell someone when we had the chance when we no longer do.

One thing I can be grateful for, though, is that I have no regrets about what I did say to the man in the years I knew him.

Good bye, Kirk – may God be with your family in this dark time.