Kenneth Richard Henry Kempker was born on July 26, 1927 in St Paul, Iowa. His parents were John and Sadie Merschman Kempker. Kenneth is a distant relation of Walt’s through the Wellman side of the family.

Kenneth Kempker was one of more than 10 children born to John and Sadie. According to the 1930 census, the family were farmers and Sadie worked in a chicken hatchery. It’s not clear if it was their hatchery or she was working for someone else.

His birth certificate

By 195o, Kenneth was working as a salesman at a grocery store. He registered for the draft in 1945 and served in the Korean War.

On December 5, 1950, Kenneth married Doris Jean Menke. They had 7 children.

Kenneth worked at a number of jobs over the years, working for AC Merschman, The Iowa Army Ammunition Plant and Leo Menke. Around 1975, Kenneth founded Ken’s Propane Service and ran it until his death on September 15, 1999. It is still in the family today.

Kenneth Kempker may be related to Walt through the Kempker side of the family as well, but I haven’t found a direct connection. I talked about Kenneth’s great aunt Maria Kempker Harmeyer in this post.