Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Rest In Peace, Ken

 Ken Powers of East Point, Kentucky died at his home January 23, 2012 after a long struggle with Parkinson's Disease.  Ken was one of of my roommates at Mizzou, and worked in eastern Kentucky for the Kentucky Division of Forestry, and later in mine reclamation.  Ken was a farm boy from Chanute, Kansas, who really loved the outdoors and working with timber.

 Ken was a pretty sharp guy, and you couldn't get anything past him.  One of our other roommates and I cooked up a batch of chili for supper. We didn't have any hamburger, but we did load it up good with mushrooms and beans.  When Ken came in he went straight to the stove, lifted the lid on the Dutch oven and loudly proclaimed "Where's the meat?!" 

 Ken is the third guy from the left in this photo of our crew on the Continental Divide.  This was the Barker Creek Fire near Anaconda, Montana in 1979. 

Ken adds a little water as we cool down the fire line just below the timberline. 

Ken is survived by his wife, Misty, her daughter, and brothers in Kansas and Oklahoma. 

Fire photo credit: Mike Skinner, KDF

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm very sorry for your loss. He was much too young.

- gsc1039

David aka True Blue Sam said...

At one time I thought that 61 was old; now not so much. Ken was a great guy. Thanks for you note. David N