Remembering Jon-Erik Hexum

"One of my strongest traits is confidence; at times I'm amazed at my confidence, even when it doesn't make sense that I should be."
-Jon-Erik Hexum

In the early 1980s there was this ruggedly handsome young man of Norwegian parentage who was seen as the "next big thing", and then suddenly he was dead from an accident via a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Hexum was born and raised in Tenafly, New Jersey where he was a musically gifted student at school playing both the horn & the violin in the school orchestra, and even the piano at home. He then attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio before transferring across to Michigan State University studying bio-medical engineering and then switching over to philosophy. Whilst at MSU, Hexum played football, and DJ'd at several local radio stations under the name of "Yukon Jack", before being discovered by John Travolta's manager, Bob LeMond.

Hexum allegedly turned down plenty of opportunities to appear in shows such as "The Dukes of Hazzard" (1979) & "CHiPs" (1977) and many day time soap operas before finally making his debut in the TV series "Voyagers!" (1982) as time traveler Phineas Bogg. He was then cast as hunk Tyler Burnett alongside Joan Collins in Making of a Male Model (1983) (TV), and then as ex-Green Beret, Mac Harper in the TV series Cover Up (1984) (TV).

However, on October 12th, 1984 after a long and draining day's shooting on the set of Cover Up (1984) (TV), Hexum became bored with the extensive delays and jokingly put a prop .44 magnum revolver to his temple and pulled the trigger. The gun fired, and the wadding from the blank cartridge shattered his skull, whereupon the mortally injured Hexum was rushed via ambulance to hospital to undergo extensive surgery.

Despite five hours of work, the chief surgeon Dr David Ditsworth, described the damage to Hexum's brain as life ending, and one week later on October 18th, he was taken off life support and pronounced dead. However, Hexum's commitment to organ donation meant five other lives were assisted or saved with organs harvested from him. The youthful & charming Hexum was dead at only 26 years of age.

Twenty-five years ago today:

September 23, 1984
Sunday

I went to visit mom at 9:30AM and ended up having breakfast there. How convenient.

I was supposed to call Bruce when I got up to see about hiking. Then I realized that I would have to chauffeur him to the hiking destination and I was in no mood to do so. I did not call him after all.

While at mom and dad’s house I telephoned Karyn Kossoff to see if her pal, Joann, had arrived safely from New York. I also wanted to wish her a happy week of vacation time. Karyn is ultra sweet.
“If you’re in the area go ahead and drop by,” Karyn said sweetly.
“I might just do that because I have wanted to do a bike ride into Berkeley,” I replied happily.

As it turned out, I dropped by on this very day. I met Joann and found her to be really short. Her teeth also looked sort of yellow (but I won’t hold that against her). She was really very nice. While looking through Karyn’s photo album I learned that an ex-beau of hers kind of resembled me (at least Joann made a point of saying so). He had a moustache though. I wonder if that’s the ‘plus plus’ reason for her strong attraction towards me? Whatever. She’s a sweetie in my book.

PHOTO: Michael J Armijo ID cards

I went to visit Howard Edelstein since he lived on Claremont in that same North Oakland vicinity. He was not at home though.

I took a ride via College Avenue and into Berkeley and dropped by at Barbara Reynolds place at about 1:30PM. She was not at home either.

I cruised along some park in Berkeley that was adjacent to the 880 Freeway. I never really knew of this park. Then I headed home and went to mom’s house for juice refueling.

I watched “Cover-Up”, a 2-hour movie starring Jon-Erik Hexum and Jennifer O’Neill. It was okay. I thought the actor, Jon-Erik Hexum, was extraordinarily handsome. It was just an okay movie.

I went cycling after the film. I did my usual Shoreline Drive ride along the beach. When I returned home the phone rang. It was mom calling on behalf of Tony.
“Tony asked me to call you because he has two passes to the Moscone Center tomorrow for lunch and a free T-shirt,” mom said.
“Sounds interesting…okay, I’ll come over to get the tickets.”

When I arrived I discovered Helen Wong there. She was visiting Tony (I guess). They both work in Downtown Oakland now. We caught up on some people and events from the old Downtown Oakland office in which we worked. It was nice to see Helen.

I suddenly realized it was already 6:30PM and I should have been home because I was expecting a phone call from Paloma. Oh well…

I received a letter from Bill Helbush and a card from Salima Nasardeen-Hamilton. I decided to reciprocate and write them back. They were sweet enough to take the time to think of me. They are both ‘bright’ and ‘good’ company.

I also plan to watch a movie called “Paper Dolls” tonight. It is starring Morgan Fairchild. I like her. She has such sex appeal despite her slippery little nose.

I am debating on whether or not I should call Karen Jackson (of England) tonight or not.

Hours passed and I did not call Karen Jackson. I began to watch “Paper Dolls” but got tied up with concentration on my letter writing to Bill and Salima; whereby, I turned the television off and focused on music and writing.

It was about ten o’clock when I decided to take a shower and simply ‘hit the sack’.