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Charles George Kepler, known by everyone as “KEP,” died the first week of July 2012. He would have been 90 on July 13, 2012. Kep died exploring, as he had done his entire life. Advanced age had kept Kep from the hikes he so enjoyed with his family, so he set out in his car to the Red Lake area near Cody. Unfortunately, the car got stuck in a gully, and he was unable to leave it. He died of natural causes.
Kep was an adventurer, a scholar and a preeminent lawyer. Even though he retired from the practice of law 18 months ago, he continued to go to his office every day — even Saturdays and Sundays. When he wasn’t lawyering, he was traveling the world with his wife Ursula or working on behalf of Cody, and its citizens, which he always proclaimed to be the best place in the world. His life was so much more than his long list of accomplishments.
Kep was born on July 13, 1922 in Salina, Kan., the son of Forrest M. Kepler and Berniece E. Stivers Kepler. He was raised in Wyoming with his younger brother, Forrest Kepler. He met Ursula L. Manewal at McCormack Junior High School in Cheyenne, and they were married on April 26, 1944 in Cheyenne. His beloved daughter, and Kep’s favorite law partner, Loretta B. Kepler, was born on April 26, 1955, in Cody.
Kep was a great supporter of the University of Wyoming, and enrolled in the fall of 1940. While his education was interrupted by World War II, Kep graduated from Law School at the University of Wyoming in 1948 with a J.D. degree, and then went on to obtain a L.L.M degree (Masters of Law) from the University of Michigan in 1950. He was named a University of Wyoming Distinguished Alumnus in 2007.
Kep volunteered for the Army in June 1942, during World War II and served in combat in France and Germany. He was severely wounded in 1944 and awarded the Purple Heart, but was later able to return to his own company and continued to serve until June 1946. He attained the rank of Captain.
Kep was a professor of business law at the University of Wyoming from 1948 to 1949, and then served as an assistant professor of law at the University of Oklahoma from 1950 to 1952. He went on to serve as an attorney with Husky Oil Company in Cody for eight years.
In 1960 he joined Alan Simpson and his father Milward Simpson in the law practice of Simpson, Kepler and Simpson. He later practiced with a number of other attorneys, with his favorite partner being his beloved daughter, Loretta who left the firm in 1984 to move to Seattle. From 2000 on he served as “of counsel” with the law firm of Simpson, Kepler & Edwards, LLC, until his retirement in October, 2010 at the age of 88. During his tenure in the practice of law, Kep also returned to the University of Wyoming Law School as a visiting professor of law in estates and taxation for the fall of 1977.
He served as president of the Wyoming State Bar from 1975 to 1976; he was a life member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, and a member of the Board of the American Judicature Society, and chairman of the State Board of Bar Examiners, member of the Board of Litigation for the Mountain States Legal Foundation, Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and a member of the Wyoming Judicial Nominating Commission and the Order of the Coif. He was often named as a Super Lawyer and one of the best lawyers in the nation.
While working as a lawyer, he continued with his civic accomplishments which included serving as a long-time trustee of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, the Wyoming Centennial Community Foundation, the Salk Institute, and the Paul Stock Foundation, and serving as a member and President of the Lions Club and Cody Club. Through his work with the Paul Stock Foundation, Kep was instrumental in granting hundreds of scholarships to individual students, and grants to the University of Wyoming. He was also instrumental in building the Paul Stock Aquatic Center at the Rec Center in Cody.
Until the last year of his life, Kep and Ursula seldom missed a University of Wyoming football game, and was a great supporter of the Cowboy Joe Club. Kep and Ursula visited every continent and reveled in their adventure trips to every part of the globe.
His beloved daughter, Loretta, predeceased him on Aug. 29, 2010. He also was preceded in death by his nephew, Courtney Kepler, as well as his parents.
Kep is survived by his wife of 68 years, Ursula L. Kepler; much-adored grandchildren, Matthew Kepler Illich of Boston, Mass., and Claire Kepler Illich of Seattle; son-in-law, Dan Illich, and his brother and sister-in-law, Forrest and Harriet Kepler.
Kep spoke as the graduation speaker for the University of Wyoming Law School’s class of 2007. At the end of his speech he told the graduates that they would always go far if they followed this advice: If the judge gives you 20 minutes, take 10, and if the judge gives you 30 minutes, take 15. Kep would have given himself five minutes, and taken two and one-half for this obituary, and been on his way to his next adventure.
Kep’s funeral will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 25, at the Methodist Church in Cody. Memorial donations can be made to the West Park Hospital Foundation for the Spirit Mountain Hospice, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center or the University of Wyoming.
An online memorial is available at www.ballardfh.com.
