KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan
—
If you drive through rural Bucyrus, Kansas, on almost any day, there's a chance you will pass Kenny Kenley on his lawn mower.
"I love working. I never stop," Kenley said. "It relaxes me."
Kenley moved 30 years ago from Michigan to Bucyrus.
He loves living in rural Kansas.
In 2009, Kenley's health declined, taking away mobility in his legs.
He was diagnosed with cancer, spending two years on life support, and also lived through seven heart attacks.
"It's a little bit rough," he said.
Nearly all of Kenley's life is spent in a motorized wheelchair.
Since his health declined, he's been committed to defying the odds.
"They didn’t think I was going to make it," he said. "They kept telling my wife I was going to die. My wife told them, 'You leave that man alone because he’s going to make it,'" Kenley said. "When I got out of the hospital, I told my wife, 'I gotta start mowing. I gotta do something.'"
With limited use of his hands and legs, Kenley spent the next year teaching himself how to get from his wheelchair into his riding lawnmower.
"Nothing ever gets me down," he said.
That attitude drew the attention of the farmers across the road at Guetterman Family Farms.
"Kenny is the unofficial mayor of Bucyrus," Mike Guetterman told KSHB 41. "He kind of looks out for everybody here in town. Coincidentally, we kind of look out for him as well. He's been a blessing to us."
The Guetterman family offered Kenny a job mowing grass around their property.
Most days, Kenny's up at 5:30 a.m., priming his lawnmower for sometimes 10 acres of grass to cut.
"He goes the extra mile," Guetterman said. "You think it would just be enough to come and ride his mower. But as soon as he’s done mowing, he gets his weed eater and he’s riding his weed eater, in his chair, and weed eating all the property. How many people are there [in the] world like that?"
As a gift of appreciation, Guetterman Family Farms poured a slab of concrete and framed a shop behind Kenley's home to store his equipment.
"You couldn’t ask for better people," Kenley said with an ear-to-ear smile. “I love them like family.”
It's his perseverance through all the bad times that Guetterman said he admires.
"He’ll call us and say, 'I’m in the hospital. I had a heart attack.' You think Kenny is about done, but three days later, he’s mowing again," Guetterman said. "You think you have problems in your life, as far as aches and pains here and there ... Kenny don’t have to do nothing. But he wants to.”
Guetterman said his family's act of kindness is more about community and the positive attitude Kenley embodies.
"I told myself there is nothing I can do about it, so I might as well go ahead and get it done," Kenley said. "This grass ain't getting brown, it’s getting green! As long as it’s green, I’m mowing.”
That's the Kenny Kenley inspiration.
