Kenneth R. Ferguson, 70, a proud Colorado native, died on September 7, 2023 at the Cornerstone Hospice House in The Villages Florida after a long, valiant fight with metastatic colon cancer. He will be sadly missed by his wife, Michelle, daughters, Kelsey Wetherington & her husband Colton, Bonny Strong and her husband Chris & grandsons Ryan & Joshua Strong & son, Thomas Ferguson, and his wife Natalie and grandson Cody Thaden. Also survived by his sister, Jean Ferguson. He is predeceased by his parents, Chauncey & Pearl Ferguson &, sister, Fay Sharp & her husband, Harry Sharp.
Ken was a quiet man known for his dry, quick sense of humor & vast knowledge of almost everything. Throughout his childhood he stayed active in the Boy Scouts. Upon graduation from Florence High School in Florence, CO he enlisted in the US Air Force and was assigned to the security police unit. While in the Air Force he spent time in Viet Nam and was very proud of being an integral part of Operation Baby Lift during the fall of Saigon. When the war was over he left the Air Force and spent several years as a police officer with the Northglenn Police Department in Northglenn CO. After a very short stent as a Denver millionaire’s bodyguard, he was hired as a security guard at the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons plant. His constant thirst for learning was recognized as a person who would be an asset as a security analyst for nuclear sights around the world. That part of his career required traveling all around the world doing analysis work & teaching security agents from other countries how to protect their nuclear sights to keep our world safe. Ken was very proud that as only a high school graduate he found himself standing in front of classrooms full of doctors of physics and engineering teaching about the nuclear world. After well over a million miles of travel he decided it was time to retire in 2019.
Ken had a love for all things trains, small and large. He loved building & tinkering with his model railroad layout he built in his basement. He and his wife Michelle spent endless hours riding & photographing trains everywhere they traveled. He especially loved steam trains and could never satisfy his desire to have the perfect picture of a locomotive spouting steam from its stack. His final train ride was as the engineer of a steam locomotive on the Nevada Northern Railway in Ely Nevada. He was truly in his element decked out in his striped bib overalls and engineer’s hat sitting in the driver’s seat of a steam locomotive. His ear-to-ear smile was truly magical as he fulfilled a lifelong bucket list item.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, September 29th, 2023 at 10:30am at the Florida National Cemetery, 6502 SW 102nd Ave, Bushnell, FL Attendees should arrive no later than 10:15am. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation in Ken’s name to the Colorado Railroad Museum, 17155 W. 44th Avenue, Golden, CO 80403. https://shop.coloradorailroadmuseum.org/MakeDonation.aspx?skuid=1004466
