Kenneth “Kenny” E. Lancette
Kenneth “Kenny” E. Lancette passed away peacefully, after a short battle with cancer, surrounded by family, at the Marshfield Medical Center in Marshfield, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024.
Kenny was born Jan. 25, 1934, to Edward and Gladys (King) Lancette, in Cadott.
He grew up in rural Cadott, and attended a one-room school house in Lafayette Township. Kenny quit school to join the Marine Corps, in the fall of 1952.
He shot expert on the rifle range during boot camp and spent the first year of his enlistment in San Diego, Calif., teaching the recruits who were going to Korea, how to shoot. Kenny served three years, and received his GED during that time, being honorably discharged in October of 1955. He always said it was the best three years of his life.
Kenny married Ellen Hardy during that time and together, they had three daughters. They later divorced.
After his discharge, they returned to the Cadott area, and he worked for Presto and the Chippewa Plastics factory.
He bought an 80-acre farm, one and a half miles from where he grew up, in 1957, and lived there the rest of his life.
In the 1960s, he began working with heavy equipment and became a proud member of the International Union of Operating Engineers in 1966. He loved digging dirt with an excavator, and instilled that love in his son and grandsons. Over the years, he dug several ponds on his 80 acres, and he was still helping with Chris’ road supply and culvert business, a week before his passing.
He was an avid motorcyclist, and owned many Harley and Honda motorcycles over the years. He would tell anyone who would listen, of his trips from coast to coast, in the U.S. and Canada, riding to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Key West and Alaska.
Kenny married Kathy Graham, and they had a daughter and son. He retired in 1995, and they spent summers traveling. After the kids grew up, Kenny and Kathy continued traveling, wintering in Florida and Texas, and spending summers on Big Chetac Lake in Birchwood, where Kathy taught Kenny how to fish and where Kenny enjoyed telling everyone that he caught more fish than she did.
He will be deeply missed by Kathy; daughters – Cindy (Jeff) Carter, Teri (Gary) Stender and Alaina (Amanda) Wardle-Lancette; son – Christopher (Katie) Lancette; 12 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; four great-greatgrandchildren; sister – Delores Gund; special friend – Jeff (Courtney) Kniefl, who Kenny considered his second son; mother-in-law – Dorothy Soper; first wife – Ellen Hardy; and many more relatives and friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents; daughter – Diana Lancette; sister and brother-in-law – Donna and Howard West; brother-in-law – Lloyd Gund; and father-in-law – Wally Graham.
Services will be held at noon, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, at Leiser Funeral Home in Cadott. Military honors will follow the services, at the funeral home. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, at the funeral home.
A celebration of life will follow immediately after, at Rick’s Halfway Hall in Cadott. Inurnment will be held at the Bateman Cemetery, Town of Lafayette, at a later date.
Friends and family are invited to join us, to honor his memory and share stories of a life well-lived.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the English Lutheran Church of Bateman, or a charity of one’s choice.
