September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001
Ken Kesey was an American author who wrote the great works of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion. In 1964, Kesey traveled across country by bus with a group of friends to appear in New York for the publication of his book Sometimes a Great Notion. The trip would later become famous after Tom Wolfe wrote about it in the The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
Kesey ultimately had to have surgery for cancer on his liver. He sensed things were not looking well and so wrote a farewell note to fans that was released after his death. The note read, “Meanwhile, I’ve still lots of forms to fill out and they’re looking for a bigger halo but durned if I’m going to play that harp. I’m holding out for the thunder machine. See you around. Kesey.”1
1 Tod Benoit, Where Are They Buried? (New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc.), 305.
