Kenneth E. Smoot

Died: Wednesday, January 27th, 2016

Memorial Gathering: 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Monday,
February 1, 2016 at the funeral home with a time for sharing stories and memories at 3:00 p.m.

Interment: Forest Hill Cemetery, Eau Claire, Wisconsin

In lieu of flowers, the family would like memorials be given to the Chippewa Valley Museum

Kenneth Eugene "Ken" Smoot died at 84 years, 11 months old on January 27, 2016 at Mayo Clinic Health System - Eau Claire.

Ken was born at home on a farm near Bethel, Missouri on February 23, 1931 to parents Robert Lester and Mary Louisa (Morrey) Smoot. Ken spent his childhood in that rural Missouri neighborhood near Bethel, which he wrote about in two books, A Penny's Worth of Candy and Kith & Kin. He left home for college, attending DePaul University in Chicago, then Washington University in St. Louis as a pre-med student, and finally the University of Missouri at Columbia. At Mizzou, he received a PhD in psychology, met Virginia (his future wife) and also R. Dale Dick, who became a lifelong friend.

He first served on the faculty at Fort Hays State Teachers College where he met lifelong friends Dave Proctor and Jerry Harper. Ken, Dale, Dave, and Jerry all left Hays, Kansas for Wisconsin State University in Eau Claire (now UWEC) where Ken taught psychology for 28 years. At his retirement in 1993, he estimated he'd taught some 13,000 students. Besides teaching many large sections of beginning psychology, early in his career he specialized in sensation and perception, later in systems and theories, and most lately in the history and philosophy of psychology.

On their hobby farm south of Eau Claire on the banks of the Chippewa River, Ken and Virginia raised, milked, and showed French alpine goats for 39 years. They spent countless mornings and evenings laughing and talking in the milk parlor.

And, as anyone who knew him at all could tell you, Ken loved telling stories.

Ken is survived by his wife of 62 years, Virginia Ellen (Beard) Smoot; son, Frank Smoot; daughter-in-law, Valerie Caskey; sister, Bonnie Tarbet; along with several cousins and many, many nieces and nephews, their spouses and children, and dear friends.

Ken was preceded in death by his parents; son, Glenn; brother and sisters, Neva Dee (Mark) Crousore, James (Maureta) Smoot, Nadean (Bill) Tarbet, Margery (Billy) Shouse, and Norma (Charles Leroy) Beckett; and brothers-in-law, Andy Worthen and Merle Tarbet.