Kenneth F. "Kenny" Moncrief

Kenneth "Kenny" Franklin Moncrief, age 86, died peacefully in his home on Wed., Oct. 18, 2023, surrounded by his family.

Graveside services will be Mon., Nov. 6, 2023 at 10:30 A.M. at Greenwood Cemetery in Sidney, NE. Cremation has been held. Immediately following there will be a gathering at the Lodgepole Valley Youth Camp in Sidney.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (www.stjude.org) or The Wild Animal Sanctuary (www.wildanimalsanctuary.org).

Condolences may be left at http://www.gehrigstittchapel.com. Gehrig-Stitt Chapel & Cremation Service, LLC is in charge of arrangements.

Ken was born July 31, 1937, in Sterling, CO to Esther Marie (Morris) Moncrief and Raymond William Moncrief, and grew up there with five sisters: Wanda, Marilyn, Delores, Judy and Carol. He spoke fondly of the summers he spent with his grandparents, Benjamin Franklin and Sophie (Nolte) Morris. When Ken was in junior high school, he wrote his goals: to attend college, to teach accounting or business management, to get married and to "have children and a nice home with a loving wife." He accomplished and excelled at all of these things.

He graduated from Sterling High School in 1955 and matriculated to the University of Northern Colorado on a football scholarship. After a four-year break, he returned to school at Western State University in Gunnison, CO where he earned his B.A. in Business Administration in 1964 and an M.A. in Business Education in 1969. He served in the Colorado Army National Guard as a U.S. artilleryman from 1959 until 1965 and was honorably discharged at the rank of Sergeant.

Ken met the love of his life, Marilyn Hall in Sterling, CO, in 1960. They married on May 27, 1962 in Sterling and lived in Gunnison. Ken taught elementary school P.E. for one year in Fowler, CO before they moved to Sidney in 1964.

He loved teaching and relished its daily challenges and rewards. He taught business classes at Sidney High School for 32 years, from 1965 to 1997, where he also coached football and basketball.

Ken loved the mountains, sailing, woodworking, stamp-collecting and Bassett Hounds. Heaven must be full of Basset Hounds -Hamlet, Murphy, Winston, and Riley- who are so happy to see him again. Most of all, he loved his wife and children, fiercely and with all his heart.

He is survived by his wife Marilyn; his daughter Kathryn Moncrief-Fox and her husband Brendon Fox of Shrewsbury, MA; his son Bradley Moncrief and partner Lisa Philips of Omaha, NE; his daughter Gretchen Wilson and husband Curtis, and granddaughter Emma of North Richland Hills, TX; his granddaughter Kenna Cangiano, husband Jonny and great grandchildren Dean and Hazel of Bridgeport, TX; his sisters Judy Schrader and husband Karl of Flagstaff, AZ and Carol Diest and husband Edison of Kalamazoo, MI; and many nieces and nephews.