Kenneth Eckhardt

Kenneth Arthur Eckhardt known as Ichabod passed away in his lifelong home in Coffeyville, KS, on December 25, 2010 Christmas Day from bone and lung cancer. He was 66. Ken was born in Coffeyville on June 11, 1944, to longtime Coffeyville residents Eloise A. Black Eckhardt and U.S. Navy Lt. Charles E. Eckhardt, who was then serving in the Pacific. They were divorced after WWII. Ken was raised by his mother in Coffeyville. He attended Whitter Elementary School, Roosevelt Jr. High School, and Field Kindley Memorial High School, where he graduated with astraight As 4.0 grade point average in 1962. Ken attended Kansas State University on a Putnam Scholarship. He thrived in this college atmosphere and was graduated with a B.S. in Economics in 1982. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, where he received the nicknameIchabod and formed many lifelong friendships. His college days included many road trips, sabbaticals, vacations, and extended visits with his many friends throughout the country. After graduation, Ken lived in Manhattan, the Kansas City area, Lawrence, and Wamego before returning to Coffeyville. He was a stock market investor and an avid antique collector and dealer. Ken was highly intelligent, a voracious reader, honest, modest, wellmannered, tolerant, and made each of his friends feel special. Ichabod lived his life on his own terms and without a timetable. He liked to have a good time. He was gregarious by nature and brought joy to a lot of people. He will be missed and remembered with admiration by everyone who was lucky enough to know him. Ken is survived by his dear friend and companion, Shirley Gieber, and her son, Clayton by his Beta brothers, his poker buddies, his old friends from the Ville, and his countless other friends in Manhattan, Kansas City, and across the country and by many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews and their families, including: Pratt Barndollar, of Coffeyville, and his children Pratt III, Florrie, Becca, and Pete, and their families Minnie Alice Wilson of Capitola, CA, and her children Kris K. Wilson and Gerri Wilson Loyd Banta and his children Ben and Luke and Eleanor De Haven, of Livermore, CA, and her children Pamela Scott and Steve Brighton. As he preferred, Kens body was cremated and there will be no funeral. However, there will be a Celebration of Kens Life beginning at 2:00 p.m. on April 16, 2011, at Cedar Bluff Camp, 1404 West 2475 Road, Coffeyville, KS 67337. All of Kens friends are invited.