James K. "Ken" Mcwilliams

JAMES K. “KEN” MCWILLIAMS Memorial services for Cortez resident, James K. “Ken” McWilliams will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, January 14, 2006 at the Montezuma Valley Presbyterian Church. Reverends Steve and Kim Noefel will be officiating. A reception will follow the service at Mr. McWilliams’ former residence located at 28019 Road M. Ken McWilliams was born June 2, 1918 in his parents home on a farm near Ault, Colorado. His parents were Orlando Courtus McWilliams and Helen Adreanna Beattie McWilliams. His dad was a farmer and his mother, a school teacher. Ken graduated from Greeley High School in 1937. After graduation, he attended Colorado State Teachers College in Greeley until 1939, when he quit school to help support the family. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Ken joined the US Army Air Corp and applied for flight training. He was trained as a navigator/bombardier in B-25’s. Before shipping out to the South Pacific, he married Helen Swing, a pretty nurse he had met at Trinity Church near the Brown Palace in Denver. The Reverend Charley Shedd conducted the service at the Presbyterian Church in LaSalle, Colorado on June 19, 1942. Ken was sent to New Guinea in the South Pacific and completed 52 missions before succumbing to malaria. After recovering, he continued to serve stateside until the end of the war. He returned home and college. He and Helen had their first son, Slim, in 1946. Ken earned a BA and teachers credential from Colorado State Teachers’ College in 1947, and began teaching at Big Bend School outside of LaSalle. Their second son, Dean was born in 1948. Ken began graduate studies, but they were interrupted by the outbreak of the Korean Conflict. Ken was recalled to the Air Force in 1950 and the family moved to Lowry AFB in Denver. He served as foreign liaison officer at Lowry and was promoted to Captain. In 1954, he was transferred to Munich, Germany and served as squadron commander. While in Germany, twin girls, Anne and Betty, were born in 1955. When his tour in Germany was completed Ken requested a position in ROTC at CSU in Ft. Collins so that he could spend more time with his family and pursue his passion for hunting and fishing. While in Ft. Collins, Ken also resumed his education. In 1960 he earned his Master of Arts and a lifetime certificate as a school administrator and school psychologist. From Ft. Collins, Ken was transferred to Air Training Command at Randolph AFB in San Antonio, Texas. Ken retired from the Air Force in 1967, and returned to Colorado and once again resumed his graduate studies. He took a job working for Ralph Baldwin as school psychologist for the San Luis Valley Board of Co-operative Services. In 1970, Ken followed Ralph Baldwin to Cortez and became the School Psychologist and Director of Special Education for Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 School District. He served in that position until he retired in 1982. After retiring, Ken spent his time farming and fishing, gunsmithing and hunting, golfing and story telling. He loved his horses, fishing on McPhee or Bear Creek, and hunting in the mountains. Ken was a long term member of the Montezuma Valley Presbyterian Church, and served as both a Deacon and an Elder. He belonged to the Cortez Elks Lodge and the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Posse. He served on the Child Protective Services Council and never accepted less than the best that could be provided for children throughout our community. Ken took up roping in his fifties, won his first trophy buckle at 61. He loved playing golf with friends – both long time and brand new - on the course in Cortez. Almost all of us know Ken as an individual who elevated story telling to an art form. Ken was a firm believer that a little prevarication was always acceptable for the higher good of a world class story. He was always in search of a new audience for his tales and once launched into a story, most found it difficult to escape. Ken took such obvious joy in storytelling that to was common for many of us to listen without questioning his veracity. Ken is survived by his twin sister, Katherine; his wife of 63 years, Helen; and his four children; Slim and wife Sue of Lewis, Dean and wife Pam of Ft. Collins, Anne and partner Dave Jones of Cortez, and Betty and husband Farrell Cox also of Cortez. He leaves 12 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Memorial contributions can be made in Ken’s memory to the Alzheimer’s Association, 701 Rio Del Camino Ste.#115A, Durango, Colo., 81301.