Kenneth Brunson

“I’ll see you in the sky above, in the tall grass, in the ones I love. You’re gonna make me lonesome when you go.” - Bob Dylan 
Naturalist, bluesman, and songwriter Kenneth Lee Brunson died on Saturday, November 2, 2024. His wife, Lee Ann, was by his side. 

Ken was born to Ruth Fern Morris and Theodore Reuben Brunson on January 1, 1950, as the first New Year’s baby in Russell County, Kansas.

 A pupil of the great outdoors, “Skinny Kenny” grew up wild and lanky as a weed, overturning every rock and stomping every stream in Stockton, Kansas, eventually going on to earn a zoology degree from Fort Hays State University. Shortly thereafter, he started work as a fisheries and stream biologist for Kansas Forestry Fish and Game (Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks), initially hired under the SASNAK program, where his career lasted for 38 years. He then became the Non-Game Wildlife Diversity Coordinator for the state, where he trailblazed wildlife conservation programs like Chickadee Checkoff and OWLS (Outdoor Wildlife Learning Sites), and worked passionately for the conservation of Threatened and Endangered Species and Species In Need of Conserva- tion across the state. He retired in 2011 to start his second career with The Nature Conservancy, where he was the coordinator for the Red Hills conservation initiative for ten more years. He was a driving force for prairie conservation, and his life’s work will benefit generations to come. 

Ken had many hobbies and interests, but his greatest loves were his wife of 51 years and the family they built, nature, and music. Even though Ken and Lee Ann grew up in Stockton and went to the same schools, they didn’t begin dating until college and married a year after graduating college. Together, they moved to Norton and then to Pratt, Kansas, where they had a small homestead with a large garden while raising three unruly girls, an assortment of mischievous hunting dogs, and multiple hives of bees. In their free time, they hunted and fished, attended a plethora of musical events, biked the Red Hills of south-central Kansas, and helped with Christmas bird counts. Ken was active in multiple conservation-focused organizations, including the Kansas Herpetological Society, the Ornithological Society, the Speleological Society, the Native Plant Society, and the Wildlife Federation. Ken was an insatiable learner with a penchant for curiosity about the natural world. His love of herpetology led to a natural depth of knowledge about all things reptile, amphibian, and turtle-related. Ken’s passion not only fueled his personal curiosity but also became an inspiring force for those around him and sparked a similar passion in his children, grandchildren, and countless others. 

Calling Ken a musician is like calling water wet, as music was intrinsic to his very being. His life was music as much as it was conservation and family. He could not read sheet music, so he learned to play everything by ear, starting when he was a teenager. The guitar was his instrument of choice, including playing the 6-string, 12-string, electric, acoustic, dobro, slide, cigar box, you name it; he played it with blues harp, banjo, and voice as close seconds. Throughout his life he played venues as small as the local Sun City bar, Buster’s, and as large as opening for Jerry Reed with his lifelong music buddies at a national conference. He was equally at home playing with his band Fiddlin’ Round on stage, as a solo artist in his basement studio, or just pickin’ and grinnin’ at the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival. 

More recently, “Papa” and “Grandma Lee” traveled the world, including trips to Peru, Ecuador, and Galápagos, Botswana, and to visit grandkids in Oregon, Colorado, and central Kansas. Ken touched innumerable lives, and the world is a measurably better place because he lived in it. 

He is survived by his wife, Lee Ann of Pratt, Kansas; his three daughters, Jessi Brunson (Ryan McKnab) of Canyon City, Oregon, Andi Brunson-Williams (Nick Brunson-Williams) of Fort Collins, Colorado, and Katelin Brunson-Hutto of Winfield, Kansas; eight grandchildren respectively, Artemis and Cleome; Teilee (and fiancé Alexis), Landis, and Fern; and Paxon, Adaira, and Sylvie; and his three older brothers Charles, Gary, and Rod and their families. 

A Celebration of Life will be planned in 2025, though details are not yet finalized. Memorials in honor of Ken can be sent to Kansas Nature Conservancy - The Red Hills, or the Kansas Herpetological Society - Brunson Award (Dexter Mardis, Biology, Box 26, 1845 N Fairmount, Wichita, KS 67260).