Kenneth Eugene "Gene" Packer

Kenneth Eugene "Gene" Packer, 90, of McLouth died Friday, December 5, 2025. Gene was born November 17, 1935 at Wakefield, Nebraska, the son of Kenneth Washington and Ethel Evelyn Johnson Packer. He was a 1953 graduate of Wakefield, NE High School. He was active in FFA and 4-H, showing steers at the Dixon County Fair and at Ak-sar-ben in Omaha, NE.

He was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Tonganoxie, life-member of the American Quarter Horse Association, American Angus Association, American Simmental Association and the Kansas Angus Association, where he served as an officer, including president, during the late-1960s and early-1970s.

Gene married his wife of over 70 years, Gloria Ruth Kunzman on September 8, 1953 at Sioux City, IA. She preceded him in death on April 9, 2024. During the first five and a half years of their marriage, Gene farmed in northeast Nebraska around Wakefield, Wayne, and Carroll. He also helped-out at Hervale Farms in Wayne, NE which greatly influenced him becoming a cattleman.

He and his young family moved to Larned, KS in 1959 where Gene was herdsman for John M. Lewis and Sons, Alfalfa Lawn Farms. He worked primarily in the Show Barn traveling by truck or sometimes by train with a string of prized Hereford cattle to State Fairs and Cattle Shows in the late summer and fall. After three years, they moved to a ranch between Douglass and Augusta, KS where he managed a herd of commercial Angus cows. Nostalgically, this was Gene's favorite job because he could ride his horse to work. In 1964, they moved to McLouth, KS where Gene managed a herd of registered Angus cattle for Morrison Grain Co. which later sold to Black Watch Farms. When Black Watch went out of business, Gene expanded his own cow herd south of McLouth. He raised Angus cattle but ventured into Simmental cattle as well as helping his son, Doug, raise Chester White hogs. In 1975, he also started to work for Farmland Industries' Fertilizer division, retiring in 2000 as a foreman in the Ammonium Nitrate section. Gene continued to work with his son, Doug, calling their herd of cattle, D&G Ranch.

He is survived by one daughter, Pamela (David) Ludwick, of Lawrence, KS, one son, Douglas S. Packer, of Oskaloosa, KS, three sisters, Marilyn (Bill) Mueksch, of Lincoln, NE, Jeannice (Dale) Erwin, of Dakota Dunes, S.D., Karen (Skip) Means, of Olympia, WA, two granddaughters, Teal (Nick) Wilson, Tess (Brandon) Brensing and three great-grandchildren, Elaina and Evelyn Wilson and Hudson Brensing.

** (Tentatively Pending) A Memorial Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:00 AM, Saturday, January 3, 2026 at Sacred Heart Church, Tonganoxie, KS. Inurnment will be at Sacred Heart Cemetery. A Visitation will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, Friday, January 2, 2026 at Barnett Family Funeral Home, Oskaloosa.

Memorials suggested to the Kansas Angus Association Scholarship Endowment Fund or to F.W. Huston Sr. Living Resident Activity Fund and sent in care of the Funeral Home, P.O. Box 602, Oskaloosa, KS 66066.