Back in 2019, Ty’s Diner owner Kristen Knebel finally got someone to take her up on a longstanding offer: Anyone who would get the restaurant’s logo tattooed on his or her person would earn free burgers for life.
Most people just laughed at the idea. But regular customer Mark Klamm — a motorcycle enthusiast, Metallica fan and Textron engineer — decided he was game.
On a Thursday afternoon nearly six years ago, fun-loving Klamm walked into Time Honored Tattoo , which operates next door to Ty’s Diner at Second and Douglas, and walked out with an image of the Ty’s logo inside a colorful cheeseburger permanently inked on his left forearm. After that, Klamm became more family than customer to the staff at Ty’s.
But on Friday, Knebel said, she got devastating news: Klamm, who had been struck by a sudden illness two weeks earlier, had unexpectedly died in the hospital. He was 64…