Mostly Cloudy, 24° F
(May 19, 1935 - March 17, 2018)
Kenneth Howard Wyckoff of Powell passed quietly at Avantara healthcare in Billings in the company of his loving family.
Born May 19, 1935, in Lovell, Wyoming, Ken was known to all as a kind and caring soul. He married Anna Rosemary Jones in 1953, briefly moving about the country while working for a seismograph crew surveying oil deposits.
Upon moving to Powell, his humanity and generosity were well known as he served the town as a police officer for 20 years, 12 of those as Assistant Chief. During his tenure as an officer of the law, Ken also volunteered with the fire department.
While he stayed busy with work, his family was never left behind. Ken was an incredible family man, dedicated to his wife and his three children, Michael, Shawna and Natalie.
While he eventually retired from the department, Ken never actually retired. He and his wife moved onto acreage out of town where they raised a number of horses. Ken became a part-time farmer in the vein of his father and grandfather. His hay was always cut and baled with his grandfather’s old John Deere and irrigated by hand.
Ken was the picture of the gentleman farmer and Wyoming cowboy. He opened the Yellow Rose leather shop and pursued his passion and self-taught talent of leather tooling and shoe repair. Already well known in town, his name soon spread through the region; if you needed leather work, the Yellow Rose was where to go.
Ken’s last seven years were a challenge as his body and mind began to betray him. Even as his disease progressed, he never lost his humanity and was well loved by the staff who assisted him. He never forgot his family, enjoying their frequent visits.
On March 17, 2018, Ken fulfilled his earthly duty, and like the gentle storybook cowboy, rode peacefully off into the sunset.
Ken was preceded in death by his beloved wife Anna Rosemary and son James Michael, and is survived by his daughters Natalie (Edward) and Shawna, as well as his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
