Kenneth Kucker

Kenneth Kucker died at age 71, and was received in his heavenly home on January 21, 2022, following declining health over the past year and complications due to COVID.  A memorial service will take place Thursday, January 27, 2022, 3 p.m., at The Chapel at Meyer Center, 1226 Washington Ave.   He was born in Fort Worth, Texas.  He served in the U.S. Army for almost 11 years including a tour of duty in Vietnam.  He lived in Waco since at least the 1990’s.  He was preceded in death by his mother Patsy Kelley Kucker and father Eugene Leroy Kucker. He is survived by daughter, Kandy Reid and sister Karen Kucker Toth.  He was a beloved member of Church Under the Bridge and Mission Waco communities.

Kenneth called himself The Wacko Peppermint Man in acknowledgement of his mental illness diagnosis and his habit to give out (or throw unannounced!) peppermints to anyone who would receive them.  “The way I was raised, if you didn’t have something to give to others you weren’t worth anything. That’s why I like to give peppermints”.  Kenneth accompanied these gifts with “Here’s something to make life a little sweeter.”   Sometimes at CUB after praying before taking the communion elements, you might open your eyes to find a peppermint puff placed in your hand alongside the wafer and juice.

Kenneth valued precise language use and often used interactions with strangers or friends as opportunities to catch them saying something out of habit instead of thinking about what was more true or what they actually thought.  Kenneth often responded to a friendly “how are you?” with a sober “I’m dying and so are you” as a reminder of the mortality we all share.  He dreamed of having a workshop with unlimited grinders, machine tooling equipment or supplies to build things.  We once observed him change the motor out of his old truck by parking it under a tree and using ropes and the tree limbs to build a hoist and pulley.  You may have seen Kenneth alongside the road by a vehicle standing tall with his arms outstretched holding the ends of jumper cables waiting for a Good Samaritan to stop and help him restart the battery.  He read the Bible, James Patterson mysteries, the dictionary, machinist and honey bee magazines, Waco bus route maps, and coursework for the multitude of classes he enrolled in at regional education institutions.  He obstinately preferred being indoors because it made no sense to him to be outdoors since he was no longer homeless.  The only exception to tolerating the outdoors was faithfully sitting on the front row of Church Under the Bridge as long as he was physically able to attend.  He loved wearing his vintage CUB “These Are My Church Clothes” t-shirt even until it was threadbare.

The Act of God to One Sinner, Testimony of Kenneth Kucker (as written by Kenneth):

“There once was this ex-con. This con had everything he needed.  He was rich; in 1985 he made over a quarter of a million dollars. He was a car thief. Also, of course, he had friends. When you ‘got money’ you ‘got lots of friends’.

“Everything he wanted or needed (or so he thought) he had. But he had this one problem; he liked to read.

“Once when he was leaving Texas, because of warrants, he got busted in Alabama.  Well, it didn’t take long for the police to realize his fake name and find his record.  Being used to having everything he wanted, he couldn’t get along with the other cons like him.  After a fight he was sent off to a single cell.

“A single cell was so boring. He had nothing to do so he slept the first three days!  Then he awoke and saw on the bars a paperback book.  So he thought he would read and kill some time.  But upon closer inspection he found this was not a paperback book. Someone left a Bible in his cell; but, he don’t know no God and even if he did, no God would help a con like him.  Because first of all, he stole all them cars. Then he couldn’t even get along with cons like himself. So he put the Bible back on the bars; maybe some stupid con would come in and think some God would come in to save him. But you see he knew better: ‘I am too dirty for a God to even waste His time on.’  After returning the Bible he saw another book. After checking to make sure it wasn’t a Bible he started to read it.  The book was called GOD’S PRISON GANG by Chaplain Ray.  The book told the story of a woman who committed the worst crime of the century. This book told every bloody detail of the crime and how this man called ‘Manson’ ruled over the gang the woman was in.  The woman (Susan Atkins) was now in a jail in California awaiting the death sentence.  Atkins found one of the small convenient Bibles those people gave away. Atkin’s story told about this man-God called Jesus.  Jesus commuted her death sentence to eternal life, and lots of other good things happened to her.  Well maybe this man-God will help him.  He found the Bible again and as he started to read funny thoughts came into his head! He thought maybe there is something to this Jesus stuff!  He read about half of Matthew the first book of the New Testament of the Bible. It was so simple, all he had to do was admit to this Jesus guy that he was really a Sinner and wanted His forgiveness!  Then Jesus wanted to forgive his sins. Well, it didn’t cost him anything; you see this Jesus guy has already died to forgive us ALL!

“Then he marked his place in Matthew, got on the floor, said the sinner’s prayer (what I just told you about), then he could feel the release of all the evil.  Satan had just lost another soul.  Then he said ‘Lord I know you’re up there and you hear me, but my faith is kind of weak right now; would you give me some kind of sign to show me you’re there; would you open this cell door?’  He felt a great urge to read for some reason; he read all night til about two hours before sunrise. He looked and the cell door was open. He ran out the cell, down the hall and down the stairs, went out picked up a phone and called momma collect.  He went back to jail and did his time. You see, time is easy if you have the Creator of time on your side. He spent almost all of his time reading the Word til they sent him to Texas prison.  He could have gotten up to thirty years in prison.  The Creator of time helped him.  He did four months and three days of which he slept all day and got up and slipped into the bathroom and read the Word all night!

“Jesus loves you and wants to forgive you too. If you really want to find full life and happiness beyond human understanding you must search your life thoughtfully. After all Jesus said, ‘I have come that they (meaning YOU too) may have life and have it to the full.’ John 10:10 NIV”

Kenneth mailed this written testimony to many people in jail and closed it with his address and offered to be a pen pal to any who would like to write.  Kenneth used the Greek word ‘metanoia’ as his signature; it means “a transformative change of heart; especially a spiritual conversion” or “repentance”.

Last summer as his health began to fail, Kenneth gave this response to what he might want conveyed at his funeral for his parting words: “Thank you.”

To honor Kenneth’s memory, please consider how you can participate in the mutual exchange of sweetness and gratefulness with others while we are on this earth, whether that be receiving a peppermint, encouraging faith that is weak, or becoming a pen pal to someone who is in jail or prison.  And if you stop to help someone with their jumper cables, you just might meet a person who can share with you a story of transformative forgiveness.

Rest in peace, Kenneth!

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