Obituary of Kenneth Lobdell
Kenneth Judson Lobdell was born in Coalmont, Colorado to Judson and Jean Lobdell. He lived with his parents in the town of Pearl which is located in North Park, Colorado. They moved to the Black Forest Fox Farm in 1936, when he was three years old. At the onset of WW II, Ken and his family then moved to Colorado Springs where his dad worked in an aircraft factory. After the war in 1947, the family eventually settled in Eckert where Ken rode the bus to attend the Cedaredge High School. After encouragement from his mother, Ken began going to the First Baptist Church in Cedaredge where a short, dynamic young man was the preacher. Ken had always thought that he was saved because he was baptized as a baby and he attended church, but he knew he wasn’t living right. One service, that same preacher asked a burning question that really hit home in Ken’s heart. He asked, “Is there anyone here tonight and you are not sure that you are saved and going to go to Heaven when you die? If there is, you can just stay right where you are and quietly pray and ask the Lord Jesus into your heart and life to forgive your sins and be your Lord and Savior! And that is exactly what he did! That night as he prayed to the Lord from his heart before bed, it was the first time that he felt that his prayers went higher than the ceiling. He got out his little red Gideon New Testament Bible and began to read it with a hunger he had never had before. From that time on, Ken knew he was changed inside and he knew that this verse was really true, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.”
After Ken graduated from High School, the Korean War was being waged and the US army was drafting young men to help in the fight. That same preacher asked Ken, “Do you want to be in the US army or do you want to be in God’s army? You better go to Bible School if you want to be in God’s army.” He decided then and there that he wanted to be in God’s Army, so Ken took his two cows and travelled over the mountains to attend Western Bible Institute where he paid for his tuition by providing milk to the school. That preacher’s name was Clyde Shaffstall and in 1956, Ken married Clyde and Alice’s eldest daughter, Louise, and together they finished Bible School and went to Talkeetna, Alaska, to the mission field. They lived there from 1961 to 1967, built a chapel and reached the homesteaders with the Gospel of Christ. From 1967 to 1974, they moved to Chilanko Forks, British Columbia, and ministered there for seven years working among the Chilcotin people and training missionaries for service. They moved to Three Hills, Alberta in 1974 with their three children, Gary, Cherry, and Cammy to enroll them in Prairie High School and worked on the Black Foot and Stoney Reserves to reach those people for Christ until 1983. Jonathan joined the family during that time and moved with them to Arrowwood from 1983 to 1996 so he could attend Hope Christian School. From 1996 to the present, Ken and Louise returned to the farm north of Carbon where they have lived and continued a counselling ministry to many people.
On one of his last days in the hospital in Three Hills, Ken preached his final sermon and only his daughter was present. He wanted everyone to know that all a person has to do is call upon the Lord Jesus Christ who loved and died for the sins of the whole world and receive Him as your Lord and Savior! Your sins will be forgiven, life will be worth living and you will spend eternity in Heaven with Him! One thing is certain, Ken invested his life in people and his family wherever God has led him, and that same God whom he loved and served was faithful to protect and provide for him all along the way!
Ken passed away on October 10, 2018, at the age of 85 as a result of stroke and heart failure. He is survived by his loving wife, Louise, four children Gary (Val), Cherry (Ken), Cammy (Tim), and Jonathan (Sandra), 14 grandchildren and 26 great grandchildren. Ken was predeceased by his parents Judson and Jean, and his sister Mary Jean. He is survived by his brother-in-law Louis (Joyce), nephew Mike (Suzanna), and nieces Jeanette (Tony) and Trudy (Steve). He will always be remembered by his family, friends, and all who knew him.
Memorial donations may be made, in lieu of flowers, to Kako Retreat Center, Inc. by credit card online at: www.kakoretreatcenter.org/give/ or by sending a US Bank draft payable to:
Kako Retreat Center, Inc. PO Box 29, Russian Mission, AK 99657.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Kenneth
Judson
Lobdell 1933 2018..
Death notice for the town of: Linden, Province: Alberta