Father: John Govro
Mother: Ida Gashel Govro
Married: Lena May (1890-1972), no date. No children.
Military: Enlisted, U.S. Army, World War I, 1 Oct. 1917. Release, 14 Nov. 1918.
Kenny's claim to fame may be that he lived in Rockford, IA the same time as Robert Waller, the author of "BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY." Waller wrote about Kenny twice, the first time in a series of articles on his travels down the Shellrock River, and in the 4th of those articles from the Des Moines Register, 19 Aug. 1987, he wrote "...I pass the place we called Flat Rock. It was here my father fished in the evenings...with his 9-foot Calcutta-bamboo catfish rod. The rod is a sacred artifact in our family. Kenny Govro, catfish purist and ace billiards player, made it. Now it hangs on the wall at my home, battered but remembering, by the slight bow in the tip, the pull of a thousand big catfish in fast water..."
Waller wrote about Kenny in his book, "OLD SONGS FROM A NEW CAFE", 1994, in the short story called "A Rite of Passage in Three Cushions", page 57,58 about Kenny's billard playing prowess; "...I acquired my own cue for $5 from Kenny Govro. Kenny, it was said, had a bad heart...He claimed he was giving up pool and billiards, in a fit of anger over losing one night, and sold me the cue. Kenny was regarded as the second-best billiards player in town, some distance behind Sammy[Patterson]. Shortly after his announced retirement from the game, he decided to renege on his promise and was casting around one night for someone to play. All he could find was the kid who had bought his cue. Oh, well, a little practice to get the rust off. I slaughtered him. Sammy's teaching and the constant practice were working. Kenny blamed it on the loss of his cue, re-entered retirement, and left Braga's cursing, about cues and smart-aleck kids and life in general."
Kenny died in Miami, Florida, in a hospital from complicatons of emphysema. He was cremated.
(story by M.Andersen, 2010) updated June 2013
Mother: Ida Gashel Govro
Married: Lena May (1890-1972), no date. No children.
Military: Enlisted, U.S. Army, World War I, 1 Oct. 1917. Release, 14 Nov. 1918.
Kenny's claim to fame may be that he lived in Rockford, IA the same time as Robert Waller, the author of "BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY." Waller wrote about Kenny twice, the first time in a series of articles on his travels down the Shellrock River, and in the 4th of those articles from the Des Moines Register, 19 Aug. 1987, he wrote "...I pass the place we called Flat Rock. It was here my father fished in the evenings...with his 9-foot Calcutta-bamboo catfish rod. The rod is a sacred artifact in our family. Kenny Govro, catfish purist and ace billiards player, made it. Now it hangs on the wall at my home, battered but remembering, by the slight bow in the tip, the pull of a thousand big catfish in fast water..."
Waller wrote about Kenny in his book, "OLD SONGS FROM A NEW CAFE", 1994, in the short story called "A Rite of Passage in Three Cushions", page 57,58 about Kenny's billard playing prowess; "...I acquired my own cue for $5 from Kenny Govro. Kenny, it was said, had a bad heart...He claimed he was giving up pool and billiards, in a fit of anger over losing one night, and sold me the cue. Kenny was regarded as the second-best billiards player in town, some distance behind Sammy[Patterson]. Shortly after his announced retirement from the game, he decided to renege on his promise and was casting around one night for someone to play. All he could find was the kid who had bought his cue. Oh, well, a little practice to get the rust off. I slaughtered him. Sammy's teaching and the constant practice were working. Kenny blamed it on the loss of his cue, re-entered retirement, and left Braga's cursing, about cues and smart-aleck kids and life in general."
Kenny died in Miami, Florida, in a hospital from complicatons of emphysema. He was cremated.
(story by M.Andersen, 2010) updated June 2013
Father: John Govro
Mother: Ida Gashel Govro
Married: Lena May (1890-1972), no date. No children.
Military: Enlisted, U.S. Army, World War I, 1 Oct. 1917. Release, 14 Nov. 1918.
Kenny's claim to fame may be that he lived in Rockford, IA the same time as Robert Waller, the author of "BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY." Waller wrote about Kenny twice, the first time in a series of articles on his travels down the Shellrock River, and in the 4th of those articles from the Des Moines Register, 19 Aug. 1987, he wrote "...I pass the place we called Flat Rock. It was here my father fished in the evenings...with his 9-foot Calcutta-bamboo catfish rod. The rod is a sacred artifact in our family. Kenny Govro, catfish purist and ace billiards player, made it. Now it hangs on the wall at my home, battered but remembering, by the slight bow in the tip, the pull of a thousand big catfish in fast water..."
Waller wrote about Kenny in his book, "OLD SONGS FROM A NEW CAFE", 1994, in the short story called "A Rite of Passage in Three Cushions", page 57,58 about Kenny's billard playing prowess; "...I acquired my own cue for $5 from Kenny Govro. Kenny, it was said, had a bad heart...He claimed he was giving up pool and billiards, in a fit of anger over losing one night, and sold me the cue. Kenny was regarded as the second-best billiards player in town, some distance behind Sammy[Patterson]. Shortly after his announced retirement from the game, he decided to renege on his promise and was casting around one night for someone to play. All he could find was the kid who had bought his cue. Oh, well, a little practice to get the rust off. I slaughtered him. Sammy's teaching and the constant practice were working. Kenny blamed it on the loss of his cue, re-entered retirement, and left Braga's cursing, about cues and smart-aleck kids and life in general."
Kenny died in Miami, Florida, in a hospital from complicatons of emphysema. He was cremated.
(story by M.Andersen, 2010) updated June 2013
Mother: Ida Gashel Govro
Married: Lena May (1890-1972), no date. No children.
Military: Enlisted, U.S. Army, World War I, 1 Oct. 1917. Release, 14 Nov. 1918.
Kenny's claim to fame may be that he lived in Rockford, IA the same time as Robert Waller, the author of "BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY." Waller wrote about Kenny twice, the first time in a series of articles on his travels down the Shellrock River, and in the 4th of those articles from the Des Moines Register, 19 Aug. 1987, he wrote "...I pass the place we called Flat Rock. It was here my father fished in the evenings...with his 9-foot Calcutta-bamboo catfish rod. The rod is a sacred artifact in our family. Kenny Govro, catfish purist and ace billiards player, made it. Now it hangs on the wall at my home, battered but remembering, by the slight bow in the tip, the pull of a thousand big catfish in fast water..."
Waller wrote about Kenny in his book, "OLD SONGS FROM A NEW CAFE", 1994, in the short story called "A Rite of Passage in Three Cushions", page 57,58 about Kenny's billard playing prowess; "...I acquired my own cue for $5 from Kenny Govro. Kenny, it was said, had a bad heart...He claimed he was giving up pool and billiards, in a fit of anger over losing one night, and sold me the cue. Kenny was regarded as the second-best billiards player in town, some distance behind Sammy[Patterson]. Shortly after his announced retirement from the game, he decided to renege on his promise and was casting around one night for someone to play. All he could find was the kid who had bought his cue. Oh, well, a little practice to get the rust off. I slaughtered him. Sammy's teaching and the constant practice were working. Kenny blamed it on the loss of his cue, re-entered retirement, and left Braga's cursing, about cues and smart-aleck kids and life in general."
Kenny died in Miami, Florida, in a hospital from complicatons of emphysema. He was cremated.
(story by M.Andersen, 2010) updated June 2013
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