Kenneth P Dubrovin

(10/24/1931 – 12/8/2022)

A Lifetime of Shared Adventures

Kenneth P. Dubrovin viewed life as an adventure to be shared with friends, family, colleagues and neighbors. In any activity, whether working as an agricultural executive, traveling internationally, parenting five children, or simply enjoying a favorite football team or symphony concert, he was always appreciating people who were there with him.

The adventure began on October 24, 1931, in Chicago, Illinois, where he was born to Paul and Mary Dubrovin (Dunetz), and grew up with older sister Antoinette (Bruno) Harbut, and younger brother Paul (Norma) Dubrovin. He was adventurous from an early age, as a small child even learning to navigate the Chicago bus system alone. So even if he became separated from a group, he never felt ‘lost’ he would just find his own way home again!

After graduating from Schurz High School, that adventurous spirit took him to the University of Illinois where he joined the TKE fraternity, and spent summers organizing and supervising workers on a large research farm. His family expanded to include a stepfather, Daniel Dunetz, and a step brother, Eugene. He also befriended Vivian, who had gone to the same high school, and they began contacting each other whenever they needed a date for an event, eventually realizing that being together was the best part of any activity.

After graduation, he had an international adventure, spending a year as a Fulbright Scholar at Wageningen in Holland, teaching himself the language well enough to learn their advanced agriculture methods. He and Vivian kept in touch through letters, and after he returned for their 1954 Chicago wedding, they moved to the University of Wisconsin where he earned a doctorate in Agronomy.

There, they welcomed a son, Ken, and then after graduating, moving, and beginning work, added four more children: Darryl (Coleen), Diana (Edwin) Cooley, Laura, and Barbara. He was an active father and enjoyed sharing with them many of his hobbies: gardening, reading, cooking, hiking and skiing; and encouraged their school, church, and sports activities. He would often drive them on holiday trips, and together the family built a ski cabin, creating a mountain family retreat in Breckenridge, CO. Raised in the Orthodox Church, he became active in the Episcopal Church, singing in choirs and serving on church advisory boards. He also supported his community through Rotary Club and other service organizations.

Meanwhile, his career had been growing and changing, too. Beginning in Joplin, MO, and then Leawood, KS, he researched herbicides and fertilizers at Spencer Chemical, which merged into Gulf Corporation. Then, after earning an MBA from University of Missouri, he moved the family to Longmont, CO to become Director of Great Western Agricultural Research Center, the premier facility for sugar beet research. His career advanced into executive management in the company, work that included extensive international travel to Central America and Asia for sugar research and production. He returned to the Rocky Mountain region and worked closer to home, first for agriculture businesses in Colorado and Wyoming, then for a small mortgage company. That led to working for the Federal Land Bank in Wichita, KS, then Burlington, CO.

After a few years, world events allowed him to use childhood bilingual skills to help develop modern agricultural businesses in cities and regions across Russia, everything from poultry farms to cranberries to ice cream and more, working for ConAgra, USAID, and then a nonprofit organization. While he was far from home, some of his family visited him there before he retired to Colorado. To celebrate retirement, he had another international adventure, this one shared with Vivian, and also brother Paul and his wife Norma, as they all traveled through Britain and France.

He enjoyed an active retirement with Vivian for several decades on a small acreage in Masonville, appreciating wildlife, scenery, and their new adventure: grandparenting! They were very involved long-distance grandparents to grandsons in Texas, Kilian and Casey Cooley, using modern technology to fill in between visits. They also often welcomed visits from other family and friends, enjoying reunion events and celebrating many milestone birthdays and anniversaries together.

He and Vivian then ‘downsized’ and moved into Loveland, CO, where they continued spending time with some of their family, friends, and former colleagues, and celebrating special events, reaching their sixty-seventh anniversary. They both slowed down there, but even as he reduced his activities, he remained interested in science and in world events, fascinated by new scientific discoveries, inspired by advances in technology, and still enjoying natural wonders and beauty on local sightseeing trips. After ninety-one years, life was still an adventure that he loved to share.

A visitation for Kenneth will be held Monday, December 19, 2022 at 10:00 AM at Allnutt Funeral Service - Hunter Chapel, 2100 N. Lincoln Ave., Loveland, Colorado 80538.

The funeral service will be held after the visitation at 11:00 AM in the chapel at Allnutt Funeral Service.

Kenneth will be laid to rest in Resthaven Funeral Home and Memory Garden, 8426 S. Hwy 287, Ft. Collins, CO 80525 at 12:30

A reception will be held following the graveside services back at Allnutt Funeral Home.

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

In lieu of flowers, family has asked for donations to be made to the Arbor Day Foundation, and their Commemorative Trees program in particular.

211 N. 12th Street Lincoln, NE 68508. Toll Free: 1-888-448-7337. https://shop.arborday.org/commemorative-trees-in-memory