Kenneth Harden was born on February 2, 1924 to William and Addie Nicholson Harden. He was born in Blairsburg, Iowa, where the family had a farm. Kenneth is the brother of Walt’s aunt Doris Hoel.

Kenneth was the eldest child, and by 1930. his two sisters had been born. William and Addie had a farm near Blairsburg. Kenneth’s parents divorced sometime in the 1930’s. Kenneth and his sisters continued to live with their mother in Blairsburg.

I found his birth certificate. It is interesting to see him listed as John Kenneth. The 1925 Iowa State Census also has him as John K. Harden. By the 1930 census, it is Kenneth J. Harden.

Kenneth graduated high school in 1941 then spent a year at Iowa State Teacher’s College in Cedar Falls. He taught school near Latimer, Iowa for four years. Kenneth taught school in Oxford Junction while he went to Cornell College in Mount Vernon, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1953. Kenneth was also working as a pastoral assistant at the Methodist churches of Oxford Junction and Wyoming.

Kenneth’s WWII draft card, filed in June of 1942.

After his graduation form Cornell, Kenneth attended Garrett Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. He earned a B.D. there in 1957. On November 27, 1958, he married Marjorie Clapp Prestridge in the Methodist Church in
Oxford Junction. In 1959, they were transferred to Chapin and Aredale Iowa Methodist churches. Kenneth was transferred in 1965 to the Methodist Churches in Somers and Farnhamville, Iowa.

A Change in Denomination

Kenneth entered the Presbyterian Ministries in 1966, studying in Dubuque. In 1967 he worked at the Presbyterian churches in Sharon, West Point and Mt. Hamill in Lee County. You can see more about the Presbyterian Church in Sharon on their website here. Kenneth retired in 1989 and they moved to Bettendorf, Iowa. He continued to serve as an interim pastor in various churches including Sugar Creek, Bettendorf, Le Claire and Davenport.

I know we have more pictures of Kenneth, but I was unable to locate them in an easy search. Kenneth Harden died on November 4th, 2014.

I talked about Doris and her husband Clarence in this post.