Kenneth H. (Bud) Pekarek will celebrate his 90th birthday with a reception from 1 to 6 p.m. on Jan. 19 at the Great Bend Best Western Angus Inn Courtyard. Friends and relatives are invited.
Bud Pekarek was born on Jan. 23, 1923 in Wilson. He talks about the Dust Bowl days and will never forget the hard times of the Great Depression. He worked on the farm through grade school and high school and remembers making 10 cents an hour working for a carpenter and mixing cement by hand.
And, he will gladly tell stories about walking two to three miles one way to school in the snow. He joined the Army Air Corps during World War II in 1942 and was a mechanic aboard Boeing B17 and B24 bombers.
After World War II, Bud worked in the oil patch as a roustabout, roughneck, oil equipment truck driver and then completed 35 years in the production of oil. He was a volunteer fireman, city councilman, school board member and still loves boating, camping and also riding on the back of motorcycles. He and his wife, Carrie Lee, were married over 50 years and raised two sons, Kent and Kevin. During his retirement years, he enjoys lunches and playing cards at the senior center and tinkering around the house.