About Kip Kempton
Who am I? First and foremost, I like to define myself as a dad. The definition of fatherhood changes weekly it seems. When you look at it over the years, those subtle differences are exponentially different. I have gone, in most cases, from a protector to simple advisor to my children trying to help them find themselves and their goals without undo influence that might force them down a path that isn’t truly suited to them because they might think their will would disappoint my vision. This functions well in most cases. My hope remains that each grown child will understand their potential and overcome any fears that might inhibit their optimum growth. Loosely quoted, in the Lord of the Rings Elrond was asked what advice he would give. He said none. I fear they might follow it. Wisdom and constraint are found therein. Though, I claim to possess neither attribute in any notable form.
Being a dad translates often, as in my case, to being a grandfather. My childhood vision of this wonderful calling was to chase these little ankle biters around with a cane as a retired man. I use no cane. If I did, it would be a cool one that had a sword. My first granddaughter was going up a slide staircase the other day followed by her aunt. I decided to run up the slide portion unseen to scare her. I achieved my goal, but the effort was tiresome and my age felt.
Personally, I’m a big fan of Italy. I used to live there. It inspired me as a kid to study the language. I understand the rules but only find two to four weeks a year to travel and study more about this wonderful culture that became the foundation for our current world in many ways. Whether that was through the Roman Empire or the Medici Renaissance or Venetian calculus. As I’m writing, I find myself in Rome looking over Via Veneto listening to noisy ambulances race by and cars honking meaningless at drivers making foreign gestures out windows at those who honk while the smell of fresh bread permeates my open balcony window bringing back years of experiences that created this odd obsession I fail to fully comprehend. It’s probably a part of my questionable often addictive personality that requires constant management.
I also mess with the Spanish language where my fluency is close to Italian but the grammatical grasp not.
I’m a friend to many over the years. I’m still in touch with my fifth-grade best friend, a veteran cop now who I consider to be a superhero. The two of us met another friend in 7th grade and the three of us all hang a couple times of year telling war stories that may have never really happened. We still laugh at them as our hair thins and our guts grow in preparation for the younger generation to kick us to forest to eat rodents we catch in our fabricated rodent traps while beating off occasional bears like Anthony Hopkins did in that Alaska flic. All our names are three letter words that begin with K. This small fact, to me. underscores the theory that we’re all NPCs in some weird alien virtual reality game. As I’ve aged other the years, a few other friends have popped up who I call my priests and they get all my confessions remaining silent, judgeless and full of good advice and brown stinky stuff to boot. You know someone to be a friend when they let you know how they see it and speak their mind clearly. My friends are never slimly yes guys. Nor am I.
God-no question in my mind of him exists, only my behavior. He’s a freedom guy. Free agency and learning lessons the hard way. I don’t see him kicking a lot to the curb. He wanted us to learn something and put us in this pressure cooker to do it that hard way. Reincarnation sounds cool but Christ teaches love and a path to change on a dime through forgiveness. That just feels good. There’s no hate. Come unto me all who are weary, and I will give you rest. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. If we all followed these teachings, this world would be flawless. I believe people forget about the judgement part and the churches of the world sometime get caught up in image protection and forget about those who sin because they might hurt their image. One of my most recent images was in a church watching people knelt in prayer. I found myself judging the religion. Then the thought came to me opposite of what I had been taught. Their faith, imperfect as they are, is perfect despite the sins of those who manage the house. I had always been taught the church was perfect despite the people. I now believe the former to be the truth. I will always be greatly moved by the belief of those praying that day and no miracle that comes to them would surprise me. I’ve seen subtle hands transmit healing to those who believe and will never doubt the power or existence of God despite my will often to do so.
I spent some time doing my dream job as a Secret Service agent. Loved the job. It was hell on family relationships. I travelled a lot. I investigated all kinds of fraud, threat cases and followed a few of the past presidents around. I did a week or two with Reagen and he remains my favorite despite the advanced memory illness that muted this amazing man who inspired the world to greatness. My favorite memory was watching a famous director in California tell him he had moved to the US because of Reagan’s inspiration and that he owed his success solely to Ronald Reagen. This went on for 15 minutes and the Gipper looked at the tall blonde long haired Northern Europe director, smiled pointed to a picture of him, Reagen, as a young man in a bathing suit and said, “I used to be a lifeguard.” I hope one day I see those greatest things in me to be those which seemed trivial at one time. I mean without the memory disorder of course.
I’m a car guy. Not the typical kind. I own a car dealership with my brother Kyle. My favorite movie line from the Kurt Russell Tombstone is when his future love interest looked at him and said, he’s part predator and part prey. Man, in this world there are car dealerships that can swallow me up in a second without a hiccup and boy do I know that. Maintaining competitiveness in an online world where every bit of information is one click away is no small task. The dealership employees over 50 people and perfection daunts me. They are each wonderful loving people. I enjoy it but pressure remains constant. Chevy supports the dealer body well; the banks are great to work with and I love a customer who is direct and speaks to me personally of their concerns so I can resolve them.
We just started a rent a car biz. I’ll get back to you on this one.
I currently serve on the AADA (Arizona Automobile Dealer Association) board, the Mount Graham Regional Hospital board and the Safford Rural Fire board.
I was a Republican Delegate for Mitt Romney and the former Graham County GOP Chair. That was a tough job and stressed me out for many reasons. I probably still need counseling. Just kidding, maybe.