Kenneth West

Ken was born in 1942, and raised in the Missouri bootheel, the eldest of six, to Laverne and James West, going to school in Gideon and helping on the farm in a house with no electricity or running water. He completed college at Rolla in chemical engineering, and spent his career all over the world making sure the oil kept flowing. His specialty was going into places that were having trouble starting up refineries, and solving whatever the problem was - technical or political. This brought him to Japan, Sicily, Brazil, the Medellin valley in Columbia, Saudia Arabia, Beirut, North Africa, among others. In the 1970s and 1980s he was based out of the Netherlands. He spent his working career on the hot end of the cold war, frequently in places where there was no law, in the service of American interests, and the betterment of the interests of the locals.
He retired in 1997, to Colorado Springs, where he spent his time researching family history, participating in gun clubs, arranging mock gunfights for the tourists, avoiding getting pulled back into work, and winning shooting competitions. He also came out to Tennessee once per year to run BB gun ranges for cub scout camps, and tell outrageous stories from his life to the kids and counselors.
He is survived by three children from his first marriage, Elizabeth, James, and Katheryn, and 7 grandchildren. He is also survived by his second wife of 30 years, Kelly, and many friends, siblings, and cousins.
He will be greatly missed - his kind are passing out of the world, to the impoverishment of us all.
The Springs Funeral Services - Platte