Tuesday,
February 21, 2006
By
Taryn Plumb TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER—
When driving through Worcester, James McKeon often glanced at the
pale, downhearted faces milling about on Main Street, hoping — but
at the same time not hoping — that he might see his brother among
them.
Allen
McKeon, his half-brother, spent his life on and off the streets
during his 30-year battle with substance abuse.
“It
grabbed him. He was just stuck in it,” James McKeon, 44, of East
Brookfield, said of his brother’s drug and alcohol problems. “We
knew this was going to happen someday. We waited for the telephone
call.”
It
finally came a week-and-a-half ago, when Allen McKeon, 55, was found
dead at the Washington Square rotary, an apparent victim of the cold.
His
death has sparked outrage among local human rights activists, who are
calling on the city to deal with its vagrancy problem.
Family
members, meanwhile, didn’t consider Mr. McKeon to be homeless —
they said he was a man who just didn’t come home. His severe
addiction governed his life, and he would steal, lie and sabotage
relationships to keep it going, they said. Thus, when faced with the
choice of a warm place to sleep or the ability to drink, he chose the
latter, they believe.
“The
city of Worcester is not responsible for Allen’s death,” his
sister-in-law, Linda McKeon, said in an e-mail to the Telegram &
Gazette. “Neither is his family. The disease of alcoholism is
responsible, just as surely as if Allen had died of cancer.”
The
trouble started early — Allen grew up in an abusive household in
Rochdale and his father often poured hard liquor into his bottle to
placate him, according to Mrs. McKeon’s e-mail. One afternoon,
police found his mother, Betty, badly beaten and tied to a chair. His
father was ordered to stay away, the e-mail said. He did, and never
returned.
Betty
remarried and had seven more children — three girls and four boys.
“Allen
was always surrounded by love and laughter in his home,” Mrs.
McKeon explained in the e-mail. “(He) was offered and given
everything he needed to grow and become whatever he desired in life.”
As
a youth, he worked at his stepfather’s general store, and was
described as a meticulous dresser who spent long hours in front of
the mirror. According to his family, he was good looking, clean-cut
and popular with young ladies.
Things
changed, however, when Allen and one of his brothers, Paul, enlisted
in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. Allen, because of his
asthma, was honorably discharged, his family said. He began drinking
and, at age 21, tried to rob a gas station. He was sent to jail for
several years.
“Allen’s
(step)father and mother were broken hearted,” his sister-in-law
explained in the e-mail. “Yet, he would pile his other children
into his big, old station wagon and make trips to prison to visit his
son. They visited and wrote Allen all the time.”
After
that, Allen served two other prison sentences, and frequently lived
on the streets, family members said. He periodically reappeared and
had “very short” periods of sobriety. Ultimately, though, he’d
disappear again. His last known place of residence was Brockton, his
brother said.
“Even
if we found him, he just wanted money to drink,” James McKeon
explained. “He’d tell me right out, ‘I need money for a drink,
that’s what I want to do.’ ”
It
was a hard cycle, his brother admitted, because the family was moved
to help, but untrusting. Allen would often steal from them and, on
one occasion, smoked crack cocaine in front of his young nieces and
nephews, James McKeon explained.
“Every
time we put our hand out, we just got bit again,” he said.
The
last time his family saw him was in November, when he showed up
unannounced and claimed to be living in a halfway house. James, who
also suffered from alcoholism until 15 years ago, told him to get
help and offered to bring him to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
“That’s
what you gotta do,” James said. “Some people just can’t grab on
to it.”
Despite
his struggle with alcoholism, James described his brother as a
handsome man with a great sense of humor.
“(He
was) just a nice guy,” he said. “We didn’t get to see much of
that.”
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