Kenneth Herrly

1940 - 2025

Ken (Kenneth) Charles Herrly, loving husband and father, passed away August 24, 2025 and has now joined the love of his life, Betty, forever in heaven. Ken was a proud Butte boy born to Della Bowdler on February 10, 1940. Not one for schoolbooks and classrooms, Ken opted to join the Army in 1957 and was sent to Fort Ord, California for basic training and then stationed in Maryland.

Once he met Betty Cooper in junior high school, he was hooked and from that point on, he would have eyes for only her. They married on July 24, 1959 and stayed together until her passing on May 4, 2024. They welcomed three children, Jim, Pam and Diana.

Ken had many talents and passions. His first was arrowhead and artifact hunting and collecting. Ken enjoyed fishing and hunting with his son, and taking his family camping. His greatest passion, however, was wildlife photography. Betty gifted him a Canon camera in the late seventies and what began as taking just a few photographs turned into his lifelong obsession.

There was a story behind every photo. His photos were breathtaking and several artists used them as reference for their own art. Ken would wait hours for the perfect photo and still think it was not good enough so he would keep snapping and wind up with hundreds of images of the same thing! Ken was also a self-taught framer so he could mat and frame his own photos.

Ken was very social and loved visiting with family and friends and he loved making people laugh with his unique humor. He worked unique jobs in his early years, including one as a Hotel Finlen bellhop. Ken worked for Harkins Wholesale until his retirement when he could then devote all of his time to his photography and traveling with Betty.

Ken was preceded in death by the love of his life, Betty; mother Della Bowdler and sister Carol Bouley.

He is survived by his son, James (Sondra); daughters Pamela (Art); and Diana (Sally), as well as wonderful grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Cremation has taken place and private services are planned for a later date. We invite you to leave your own memories of our amazing father on the axelsonfuneralhome.com website or you can visit Ken's Montana Fish and Wildlife interview video on Youtube by searching Ken Herrly's Wildlife images and leave your memory there.