Ken’s Story
Ken was born and raised in a small Amish-type community in central Illinois. He left the farm to attend the University of California in the turbulent sixties.
His uncommon experiences — some wonderful and some quite challenging — shaped the qualities for which Ken is known: curiosity, openness, an exploratory and adventurous nature, a deep commitment to creating community, and a bone-deep compassion for his fellow man.
Curious to hear more? Invite Ken to speak with your group about his one-of-a-kind upbringing through Where the Map Ran Out: A Storytelling Event About Faith, Freedom, and Finding Your Own Road. Learn more here >
From the Draft to Distant Shores
Following his conscience led to the wilds of the Mediterrean
After taking a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of California, he found himself in a difficult position. The war was raging in Vietnam, and he was #53 in the draft lottery — a sure bet on being drafted.
Given his philosophically non-violent upbringing, Ken chose to leave the States instead of joining the military. After traveling extensively throughout Europe, his savings eventually ran out, and he took a job running a small mountain farm in a tiny village on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, located off the coasts of Greece and Turkey.
Presence, Not Pretense
A different kind of ministry: unorthodox, irreverent, and deeply human
Upon returning to the States, Ken went back to school and earned a Master of Divinity degree in St. Louis, Missouri. Throughout his long career in ministry, he acted as a Hospital Chaplain in five hospitals in the St. Louis and Denver metro areas.
He entered seminary and was ordained as clergy in the United Methodist Church. Much to the consternation of his bishop, Ken was usually 'stirring up the pot' in an environment that concerned itself with keeping a lid on the status quo. It wasn't long before he earned the nickname 'IrReverend Ken' — a moniker with which he was privately quite pleased.
As a Chaplain Supervisor in Training, he taught chaplain seminary students the art of listening and being with people through difficult times. He would tell his students, "If you are going to be a good Chaplain, then you must learn ‘The Way of Father Mulcahy' (M*A*S*H). You must learn to talk, heart-to-heart, with a Buddhist as easily as a Baptist, a teetotaler as easily as a heavy drinker." This was Ken's style of ministry — unorthodox, but genuinely compassionate. And when a Presbyterian wanted to marry a Jew, Ken was happy to be the one to perform the ceremony.
Integration and Impact
Building bridges between soul & psyche
As founder and director of Hope Care & Counseling Centers, Ken blended spiritual insight with clinical depth—creating a far-reaching network of care, earning advanced credentials, and mentoring others at the intersection of theology and psychology.
In 1981, Ken went on to found Hope Care & Counseling Centers in Denver, Colorado. He was the Executive Director for 22 years. In this position, he developed and supervised over 20 satellite pastoral counseling centers throughout the Denver Metro area.
During his time at Hope, Ken became an adjunct college professor, teaching evening classes in psychology and comparative religion, a role he held for 16 years.
Kindled by his affinity for blending psychology with theology in his work, he returned to academia in 1986 to earn his Doctoral Degree in Pastoral Counseling from The Graduate Theological Foundation at the University of Notre Dame.
Upon graduation, Ken became a Certified Marriage and Family Therapist and a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors—two roles in which he was proud to distinguish himself clinically.
Mapping New Paths
Opening doors abroad
Partnering with Rick Steves to champion accessible travel in Europe
While transitioning away from his years with Hope Care & Counseling, Ken began spending more time traveling and writing. In 2000, Ken semi-retired and began researching and developing European travel guides for people with limited mobility.
Collaborating with the well-known PBS travel authority, Rick Steves. Ken co-wrote a popular book about accessible travel, titled Easy Access Europe: A Guide for Travelers with Limited Mobility, which has been published twice by Avalon Travel Publishing.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
The creaky, cobblestoned Old World has long had a reputation for poor accessibility. However, in recent years, Europe has been making impressive advances in opening its doors to everyone, including travelers with limited mobility. Maybe you're a wheelchair user with an adventurous spirit. Or perhaps you're traveling with a loved one who has limited mobility. Or you simply don't get around as well as you used to, but your sense of wanderlust refuses that rocking chair. This book was written for you.
Download your free copy here:
Expanding Horizons
Reimagining retirement,
embodying ‘elderhood’
From sea-view solitude to global men’s circles, Ken turned retirement into a soulful new chapter of leadership and legacy.
This first attempt at retirement brought with it further expansion and creativity. Ken started spending more of the year working and writing at the home he owned in Mexico at the time, overlooking the Sea of Cortez. And while home in Denver, he became very involved with The ManKind Project.
MKP's purpose is "to change the world one man at a time by helping men connect head and heart, while leading lives of integrity, authenticity and service".
During his time with MKP, Ken participated in and co-facilitated men's leadership trainings and innumerable experiential in-person personal growth workshops.
Ken served for 3 years on the MKP Board of Directors. He was then proud to be elected Center Director of the Colorado ManKind Project, a role he held from 2005 to 2007. In 2008 and 2009, he served as Vice-Chair of the MKP International Council of Elders, an elected position.
Ken's time with MKP International took him to Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Greece, and Turkey, where he facilitated personal growth workshops for men focusing on the topic of vibrant elderhood.
At the Threshold
Hospice as distilled soul work
Ken’s passions—conscious aging, grief work, elderhood, and end-of-life care—began to converge, calling him into a deeper and more focused chapter of service.
In 2003, a dear friend, longtime mentor, and former seminary professor—then serving as a hospice chaplain in Denver—invited Ken to join his team. Ken accepted, stepping out of semi-retirement and into a deeply meaningful new chapter.
Hospice work felt like a return to the essence of his calling. It distilled the best parts of counseling: presence, authenticity, and deep human connection. With only months or weeks remaining, most patients let go of performance and pretense. They became more real. Many experience spiritual awakenings, often with little resistance from the ego.
Ken served the Denver community as a hospice chaplain until 2007, walking alongside the dying with reverence and gratitude.
“When people are dying, they’re not performing anymore. They’re real. And in that space, the soul can speak plainly.”
A Return, A Beginning
A call from the desert
Then came the call from his sister in Arizona: it was time to relocate to Tucson to help care for his aging folks who had moved there from central Illinois years earlier to retire near their daughter and granddaughter.
In Tucson, Ken became the Director of Social Services and also a Clinical Supervisor at a large hospice in Pima County. For three years, he oversaw the social services team, which comprised chaplains, social workers, bereavement counselors, and volunteers.
Out of this work, Ken developed a hospice training program to help hospice professionals, patients, and their families deal more creatively and consciously with the emotional and spiritual aspects of the death and dying process. Pairing this with his community awareness work on the topic of aging well, Ken continues to write, speak, and coach on the topic of consciously creating 'vibrant elderhood'.
Grounded in Love
New roots in the desert, new ways of being
Beginning afresh in the Sonoran Desert with his then-new wife, Claire O'Connor, they embarked on five+ years of immersive, somatically-informed personal development trainings under the direct mentorship of Gay Hendricks and Kathlyn Hendricks of the Hendricks Institute for Conscious Living.
During this time, Ken and Claire both became Certified Conscious Relationship Coaches. This coaching certification focused on developing skills in being deeply present, listening with deep curiosity, accessing the body's intelligence, mastering fundamental personal transformational processes, and empowering collaborative, wonder-fueled exploration. Today, they continue to use and teach the skills they learned to create an intentional, awake, and playful life together.
Adventure Calls Again
Expats in France
In a second attempt at retirement in 2012, Ken convinced Claire to sell their Tucson home and relocate to the southwest of France. After a long recon trip, they chose Roquebrun, an exquisite little village of 600 inhabitants on the banks of the River Orb in the heart of the wild Languedoc region in southwestern France. It was a Bucket List adventure that delivered an abundance of blessings and experiences.
After a year and a half of international living in France and extended travel in Ireland, Italy, and Spain, Claire declared to Ken that her heart was calling her back to the Sonoran Desert.
Ken was reluctantly amenable, ultimately, once Claire assured him that his international travels would still be a priority in the household budget. And so Ken happily spends at least one month a year with friends abroad — most recently in Crete, England, Scandinavia, and Portugal. Ken also adventures with his son, Nikos, who is following his dreams as an avalanche expert in Summit County for the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Back Home, At Home
Chaplain, companion, guide
Ken again now calls Tucson and the beautiful Sonoran Desert home. He continues to work part-time as a Hospice Chaplain while offering mentoring, group facilitation, advocacy, consulting, storytelling, coaching, and celebrant services. He is available to work with clients locally and worldwide.
