(Photo above: Every year, Ken and Betsy represented KMLT at the annual Lauderdale Lakes Fish Jamboree.)
Ken Ingle was founding member of the KMLT Board of Directors and served until 2020, when he chose not seek an additional term. His leadership and positive attitude are missed by us all.
Ken died on January 24, 2021 at the age 82 in his home in Indianapolis. He dearly loved his large, extended family, which congregates every summer at cottages on Lauderdale Lakes here in southern Wisconsin. He enjoyed solving troublesome mechanical problems with motors, wiring and plumbing, once pulling the engine from a Saab in his garage where it hung, suspended, for several months while he worked on it. He was often outdoors, whether boating, hiking or sitting in conversation with others. A patient man, he listened attentively to people and had a clear sense of justice.
The son of Kenneth Ross Ingle Sr. and Dorothy Gill Ingle, he was born in Evansville, Indiana in December 1938. Growing up, he spent summers at his family’s property on Lauderdale Lakes. He loved classical music, playing both piano and French horn all the way through college. He graduated from DePauw University in 1960, having spent an exciting year in Vienna, Austria that he remembered fondly throughout his life.
Ken met his future wife, Elizabeth Johnson (Betsy), when his older sister, Carolyn, married Betsy’s brother, Walker Johnson. Betsy and Ken were married in Betsy’s hometown of Madison, Wisconsin in July 1964. As a young couple, they spent two years in the Philippines teaching college through the U.S. Peace Corps. The experience forever informed how they viewed society and social justice challenges.
For the past 20 years, brothers-in-law Ken and Walker both served as members of the KMLT Board of Directors. Ken was instrumental in guiding KMLT through the process of obtaining accreditation through a rigorous national standard in 2012. Year-after-year, he and Betsy represented KMLT at Lauderdale’s annual Fish Jamboree, delighting children and engaging adults in the joy of learning.
Ken took on new career challenges throughout his life. He was a physicist at Ball Brothers Research Corp. in Colorado, an independent oil producer in southern Indiana and western Kentucky and, later, a computer technician. During his work on small oil properties in Kentucky he came to value greatly the companionship of local men he hired as contractors. The men ate their dinner together outdoors at 11 a.m. each day, talking hunting, dogs and family and included Ken, an outsider, in their conversations.
A member of St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Carmel, Indiana for more than 30 years, Ken relished discussions about religious faith. He retired from work at age 64.
Ken is survived by his wife of 57 years, Betsy; his sister, Carolyn (Walker) Johnson; his two children, Kathryn (John) Calkins and Edward (Megan) Ingle; and four grandchildren, Isabelle and Charlotte Calkins, and Largo and Noble Ingle. He also leaves behind numerous nieces and nephews. The whole family still enjoys the Lauderdale property that he tended so carefully. They will keep Ken’s sense of fairness and love of family and place alive and thriving. We will miss him!
It was Ken’s wish that, in lieu of flowers or gifts, donations be made in his memory to Kettle Moraine Land Trust.
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