Family Fights To Honor Northport Twins Who Died Months Apart

NORTHPORT, NY — A year after identical twin brothers Gordon and Jeff Kuhn died just months apart, their heartbroken Northport family hopes to memorialize the brothers forever by engraving their names on two publicly placed plaques: one on the village's waterfront and another next to Lewis Oliver Farm Sanctuary.

Gordon Kuhn died of a heart attack in April 2018 at the age of 53, and his brother Jeff died in an ATV crash three months later. The back-to-back losses rocked the Kuhns, and now the brothers' younger sister, Lori Kuhn, is spearheading an effort to cement them into the village's legacy forever.

The idea came to her one night as she sat near a barn where she and her siblings once played as kids. It would be nice, she thought, to have a place where her family could visit to remember them.

She'd heard of other families buying plaques to honor loved ones and knew it would mean a lot to the family, particularly her parents who are both in their 80s.

Kuhn wanted to get plaques placed on two benches near locations that held a special place in their hearts. One would go near the harbor where they often visited as kids, and the other would go to the farm sanctuary, which was up the street from their childhood home.

"As children, we played at that farm quite a lot. We also all at some point or another in our teenage years and young adult years worked at their store. My brother Gordon completely re-roofed that entire barn as a young man," she said, adding that he even lived there for awhile.

There's just one hiccup: due to limited space, a moratorium was placed on installing plaques at Northport and Cow Harbor parks, village trustee and parks commissioner Mercy Smith told Patch in a text message Tuesday.

The moratorium, which was implemented before her appointment, does allow for opportunities at Scudder and Soper parks, but when asked whether it would be possible to buy plaques for the two locations Kuhn requested, Smith said the locations would be determined based on space requested, the moratorium and availability.

"The main parks are so popular," Smith wrote. "Families often have their heart set on the main parks."

She added that there are other creative ways community members can enhance the village, and she hopes to partner with families to find those ways to "express their love." As an example of that, Smith said a resident recently donated money to buy new playground equipment and a memorial plaque to honor her 11-year-old son who passed away. The new jungle gym is on order for Soper Park, wrote Smith.

But Kuhn, who now lives in Playa Vista, California, and works in advertising technology, has her heart set on the two locations that hold sentimental value. She said she doesn't want the plaques in the two parks Smith suggested, and launched a petition this week on Change.org seeking support to bypass the moratorium — and perhaps even lift the freeze altogether.

"I ask your support in honoring both of my brothers, Jeff & Gordon Kuhn," the petition stated. "They lived and thrived, embarked on adventure and grew into adults, became fathers and loving siblings through the culture that is Northport! While their passings were untimely, their memories can live on, as Northport residents forever with you help!"

Kuhn hopes to get the plaques installed before the brothers' birthdays in late July, but whether that will happen remains murky.

Smith said every loss and honor deserves the "utmost respect, empathy and thoughtfulness," but so does every moratorium.

"Above all, inquiries and requests must be addressed with the consistent application of policy across our community to ensure fairness," said Smith.