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Kenneth

Severin

Samuelson, 88

Kenneth Severin Samuelson, 88, went to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Oct. 14, 2017. He was born on May 8, 1929, the middle child of three and only son of David and Ruby Samuelson. Ken grew up on his family’s potato farm near Idaho Falls and graduated from Shelley High School in 1947. He attended college at Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran College for a brief time, and helped run his father’s farm before enlisting in the Air Force at the start of the Korean War. He remained stateside in an administrative role throughout the war and left the service at the conclusion of the conflict in the fall of 1953 to return home to the farm. In 1954, he returned to his pursuit of higher education at Idaho State College and the University of Idaho, the latter institution where he obtained his undergraduate degree in agriculture in 1957. During this time he met Maribel Schupfer, a reporter for the Daily Idahonian, at a church youth group picnic. They married on Sept. 25, 1955.

Ken was accepted at the School Of Dentistry at Washington University in St. Louis in 1957, where he was a member of the Delta Sigma Delta dental fraternity. His oldest son, John, was born there in 1959. Ken went on to earn his doctorate of dentistry in 1961. He passed the national and state licensing boards the same year and settled his young family in Post Falls, Idaho, where he would practice dentistry for 40 years. His middle son, Glenn, was born shortly after he started practicing, followed by third son Steve, in 1965. He retired from full-time practice in the fall of 1995, but continued to work part time for the next six years, before retiring for good after the turn of the century.

Ken was fun, witty, adventurous, a naturally curious individual and an avid reader. He had a wide range of interests. He enjoyed traveling, including trips to many parts of the country to visit friends and family, and journeyed with son Glenn, to Norway and Sweden in 1993. He loved the outdoors, fishing and hunting with his father, and backpacking with his wife and sons. He had a lifelong fascination with industrial arts and dabbled with ideas for inventions. Prior to starting his dental education, he designed small hydro gates for flood irrigation and sold all the gates that he had fabricated himself. Throughout his life he would refer to himself as “an old farm boy at heart.” Even during his years as a practicing dentist, he grew hay for sale and raised pigs and sheep. He also dabbled in real estate development, completing the Aspen Professional Park in Post Falls in 1985, which became the new home to a doctor, dentist and pharmacy. Having grown up during the Depression, he was a lifelong student of macroeconomics, and was an amateur political pundit. He learned the violin at a very young age and played at the church as a lad of 8, serenaded his young family in the evenings during the early years of his practice, and played in local orchestras well into his elder years.

He loved to socialize and visit with people, both young and old alike. In so doing, he never failed to witness about Jesus to any and all, as he was strong in his Christian faith. And as his life drew to a close, he was granted the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding. He was preceded in death by his wife, Maribel, and son Glenn. He is survived by his sister, Margaret, and sons John and Steve.

There will be a visitation held from 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, at English Funeral Chapel, 1133 N. Fourth St., Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. The Funeral Service will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017, at Christ The King Lutheran Church, 1700 E. Pennsylvania Ave., Coeur d’Alene. There will also be a committal service at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, at Juliaetta Cemetery in Juliaetta, Idaho. English Funeral Chapel is entrusted with the arrangements. Please visit www.englishfuneralchapel.com to see Ken’s online memorial and leave a guestbook message for the family.