Kenneth Ray Huckaby

Ken was born in Bakersfield, California and grew up in the Lamont/Arvin area on the family homestead on Edison Road. He was a graduate of Arvin High School. He met his first love, Caroline Blake, at a grape packing shed in Lamont while he was driving a truck for the family trucking business and she was packing grapes. They were teenagers at the time. They married soon after and together raised two daughters, Kennie and Toni. They were married 45 years before Caroline lost her battle with cancer.

Ken was an intelligent man of many interests and endeavors. Through the years, he ran his own trucking business, was an officer in the Merced Police Dept., was a Ranger for the Kern County Parks Dept., co-owned a landscaping business, owned and operated the western wear store, Cowboys and Ladies, with Caroline, and he worked as the MOT Supervisor for the Vineland School District. As a founding member of CALM, Ken donated countless hours and landscaping equipment to aide in the creation of Kern County’s first zoo.

Ken and Caroline were members of Valley Bible Fellowship Church where Ken served as an active member and where he started Valley 4-H Club, which provided many kids with an opportunity to raise and show livestock. Ken is known by many as the first person to raise Boer goats in Kern County, and he did so successfully for many years.

Ken met his second love, Rosemary Bono, through their mutual interest in classic cars. Together they were/are involved in the Central Valley Chevrolet Club, The Vintage Chevrolet Club of America, and the Tulare County Horseless Carriage Club. Ken and Rosemary resided in Tulare, California and were married for 15 years.

Ken enjoyed football, classic cars, playing chess and checkers, and NASCAR. He attended The Daytona 500 this past year which was a life-long bucket list item for him. In Ken’s later years, he enjoyed his garden, and many who knew him reaped the benefits of his bountiful harvests.

Ken was a man of integrity, as his father before him. And his love for God and family was as evident as it was constant. He will be deeply missed by all who loved him.

Ken is predeceased by his parents, Cecil and Thelma Huckaby, and his late wife Caroline. Ken is survived by his wife, Rosemary; daughters Kennie (Alan) Pounds and Toni (Vince) Smith; step-son Joe (Angela) Bono; step-daughter Lori Bono; grandchildren Jason (Jennifer) Crafton, Sandra (Chris) Allen, Sunny (Bob) Dickson, Shawna Smith (Julian Roberts), Amylia (Michael) Ryan, Chanie Smith (Andrew Michels), Sophia and Abby Bono; great-grandchildren Makayla and Luke Bertrand, Kailani Wilson, Blake Crafton, Ronan and Ailey Dickson and Joseph and Frederick Ryan.

Ken is also survived by all of his siblings; brother JR (Janice) Huckaby; sisters Charlene (Paul) Phillips, Delores (Edward) Henson, Wanda (Stephen) Guthrie and numerous nieces and nephews.

A celebration of his life will be held on January 25th at 1:00 p.m. in the Hillcrest Memorial Park chapel. Reception to follow.

The family would like to thank Dr. Ravi Patel and his staff at CBCC as well as Dr. Timothy Donahue of UCLA Medical Center for their excellent care and treatment of Ken and for giving us four more years of his life on earth.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.hillcrestmemorial.com for the Huckaby family.