Ken is remembered by those who knew him for his humor, wit, and kindness. He chose pharmacy as his vocation and dedicated his career to helping others. He was particularly proud of his innovative efforts to provide many millions of dollars of life-saving medicine to patients who otherwise couldn’t afford it; and of the appreciation he garnered from his efforts mentoring and training those around him. His career offered stability and security for Ken and his family, and enough free time to pursue his other passions.
Those that loved him and had the good fortune to call him a friend also remember that the passion that most often occupied his thoughts was one for adventure, for it also frequently occupied their time and even occasionally superseded their sense of self-preservation.
Whether jumping from a plane or wandering the bottom of the sea, when Ken had free time it was almost always spent seeking adventure, planning the next one, or recruiting a victim / companion to join him. He was a lifelong Star Trek fan, and while the opportunities to go where no one has gone before were limited, he was always drawn to where few had gone before. The road less traveled is not often paved, and the bumpiest roads were the sources of his best stories. Some stories were told many times but others were a beer or three away – held at sword point on a remote Caribbean island; evacuated from a rainforest via helicopter from an airport lit by flares; sneaking across international borders in the dead of night; and protecting ancient, hidden petroglyphs deep in the desert of the American Southwest.
Ken was also always fascinated by space and the wonder and sense of adventure it held. He had applied to the NASA astronaut program several times, even making it through the first two selection cuts once. He studiously read about each of NASA’s interplanetary missions, watching live as the first photos from the Mars Pathfinder and Pluto New Horizons missions came down. To have spent an evening with Ken was to have spent it outside, under the stars. And the chance to ponder the heavens was only a matter of the darkness of the skies and the number of empties on the railing.
He freely admitted that he’d gone too fast via motorcycle, car, snowmobile, boat, ATV, toboggan, inner tube, and just about every other conveyance upon which he ever conveyed himself. And as a man who committed Apollo’s translunar ejection velocity to memory, he would have been thrilled to know he’d reach it.
Ken’s life was cut short on July 6th, 2020 after a swift battle with cancer, before he could come close to realizing all his dreams of exploration. It is an honor for his loving wife of 45 years, Ardith, to send him on a final adventure to the moon, where precious few have gone before, and where his memorial will be as permanent as the impact he’s had on those who loved him.
