Kenneth Robert Kuhnert

Kenneth Robert Kuhnert, age 84, was a loving father and devoted husband and special friend. Kenneth passed away early Tuesday, April 11, 2023 at FHN Memorial Hospital, Freeport, Illinois. A visitation will be held from 4:00 ~ 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 13, 2023 with a service at 6:00 p.m. at the Law Jones Funeral Home in Mt. Carroll, Illinois. A graveside burial will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 14, 2023 at Red Oak Cemetery in Walnut, Illinois. A memorial fund has been established for charities.

Ken and his late wife Patsy moved to Mount Carroll in the late summer of 1995. Kenneth was born November 17, 1938 in Princeton, Illinois. The son of Henry and Jane (Birkey) Kuhnert. Ken was active in FFA, track and field and worked very hard on his family’s farm that included a poultry house of 7000 layers, a large garden with strawberries and a bee house. He loved observing and forecasting weather and has fond memories of a Christmas day snow as a kid.

He was a 1956 graduate of Walnut High School and attended Northern Illinois University and Midstate College of Commerce in Peoria, Illinois and in 1961 took a job with the Illinois Department of Revenue and was soon drafted into the U.S. Army and attended basic combat training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Upon completion, he was assigned to perform military duties as a personnel clerk with the HHC, 2nd Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (M) at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. PFC Kuhnert was awarded the Good Conduct Medal and earned marksman (M-14 rifle) and Sharpshooter (M-1 rifle) qualification badges. A grateful nation is indebted to his selfless service and dedication.

Ken later moved to southern Illinois (Metropolis) to start a family and resumed his career as a state sales tax auditor out of Marion, IL where he brought significant tax revenue back into the state. Ken joined Parents Without Partners in December of 1980 where we met and later married Patsy which spawned many road trips to school functions, late nights helping with homework and several special family vacations including Disney World and Oklahoma.

Shortly after retirement in July 31, 1995 and moving to Mount Carroll, he took a part-time USPS mail carrier route out of Thomson, Illinois from 1998 to 2011. Ken volunteered as an auditor at the Mount Carroll Methodist Church and helped with the regional food bank, U.S. Census Bureau and later attended the Argo Fay Methodist Church. He was a member of Chadwick Lions Club where he served as a treasurer, Masonic Lodge, Eastern Star (Worthy Patron) and an election judge for many years.

Ken loved nature, especially birds and landscaped his yard in rural Carroll County with many trees and bushes to provide food and habitat. He loved taking his family to Texas Roadhouse, Lock and Dam #13 in Thomson to watch the Bald Eagles and was fond of snowmobiling with his wife Patsy in St. Germain, Wisconsin.

Ken took several trips of a lifetime including Europe in the early 1990s and in 2015 he took his dream trip to Alaska with his son Nathan for an inside passage cruise. Most recently in 2018 Ken visited Grand Canyon National Park to top off his bucket list.

Ken met a very special friend, Wilma Freeman, at their church’s grief counseling class in 2014. They loved to spoil Hillary (Yorkshire Terrier), dine at special local and regional restaurants, talk to friends and family and basically formed a very special bond to help enjoy life.

Kenneth will be dearly missed by two sons, Nathan Kuhnert of Norman, OK, Christopher Parrott of Paducah, KY; two daughters, Kenna (Robert) Lentz of Greenville, IN and Lisa (Jimmy) Murphy of Nashville, TN; three grandchildren, Tyler, Ashley and Joanna; two great-grandchildren, Evan and Alice; a special companion, Wilma Freeman of Mt. Carroll; two sisters, Arlene Ellegood and Mary Kuhnert; three brothers, Henry, Dale (Linda) and Raymond (Carol); and nine nieces and nephews, Wendy Gripp, Mindy Riley, Ray Wright, Jr., Katrina Wright, Michael Wright, Craig Ellegood, Kieth Ellegood, Ricky Kuhnert and Daniel Kuhnert. Kenneth is preceded in death by his wife, Patsy Kuhnert in 2013; a granddaughter, Rebecca; a brother-in-law, Ron Ellegood; and both parents.