Kenneth Beynon

Kenneth Allen Beynon, age 93, passed away in Boise, ID on Thursday, December 25th, 2025 at ID State Veterans Home. He was born in Mahanoy City, PA on August 21, 1932 to Verna Wright and Kenneth Beynon Sr.

Kenneth received his education at Girard all boys boarding school, which he jokingly called the orphanage. His favorite classes were practical arts and foundry. He was the Vice President of his class. He was an active participant in sports spending most of his time participating in track, soccer, basketball, and softball. After his education, Ken worked as a Locomotive crane operator for a short time before joining the Army.

Kenneth joined the U.S. army in March of 1953 and served in the Korean War until January 1955 when an injury disqualified him from service. He humbly received the National Defense Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal (March 10th, 1953-January 7th, 1955) and the Korean Service medal.

Following his military service, Ken attended Williamsport Tech Institute and studied airplane maintenance under the G.I. Bill. He joined United Airlines and worked for them at various airports over the next 35 years. Kenneth was married to his first wife, Shirley Horne, on August 19th, 1956. Kenneth and Shirley had four children; Kenny, Diane, Karin, and Kimbery. Ken spent most of his career working the night shift, this helped him to avoid rush hour traffic, and he was able to watch the children while Shirley worked the day shift as a nurse. They often referred to the arrangement as ships passing in the night. For a time the mechanical hub at Salt Lake City was shut down, Ken chose to be laid off rather than move his family to California. Ken purchased and lucratively ran a motel in Castle Rock, Washington while he was laid off from United. He also invested in a restaurant. Approximately eight years later, United reopened their mechanical hub at Salt Lake City and Ken returned to work for them there. At the time of his retirement in 1990, Ken was the Chief of Maintenance at Salt Lake City International Airport. Shirley passed away in 1988. Ken married Kathleen on August 10th 1989. Ken helped to raise Kathleen's two teenage boys from her previous marriage.

Ken spent his free time playing competitive soccer till 1975 and competitive softball until 1988. He coached softball for his daughters' league as well as a high school team, sharing his love of the game. He enjoyed putting together puzzles, camping, and dirt biking. Ken spent a lot of his time in retirement playing in a 60 and over softball league, which he played in until his late 80's. Ken continued to enjoy swimming, putting together puzzles as well as playing slot machines, and tinkering; working on his cars, thrifted clocks, and building small models of airplanes, ships, and other things. Kenneth had a life long love of dogs and always owned one or two at a time. He often said dogs were the best judge of a person's character. Ken was also a fan of John Wayne and loved watching the Duke's movies.

Survivors included: his second wife Kathleen Beynon of Nampa ID; his children Karin LaChine (Tom) of Shelton WA, Kim Emerson of Nampa, ID; his grandchildren Nathan LaChine of WA, Kristen Bishop (Jay Bradford) of TX, and Jessica Green (Jaylyn) of ID; and his great-grandchild Renee Bishop (TX). Ken was predeceased by his parents, his first wife Shirley Beyenon (1988), son-in-law Mark Emerson (2013), his sister Verith Thurchak (2015), and his children Diane Beynon (1960) and Kenny Beynon (2020)