Ken Borden

Ken Borden, 85 years old, resident of Norman, passed away on August 24, 2021.

Ken was born in June of 1936 in Alamogordo, New Mexico and was brought home to a clapboard ranch house, just outside of Oro Grande. He was the first child of Gladys Arrington Borden, the beautiful youngest daughter of the Arrington Family, and Charles Howard Borden, a ruggedly handsome young hand on the Prather Ranch who moonlighted as a hunting guide in the Sacramento mountains. Both had come to New Mexico from Central Texas.

Ken’s first years were spent with the horses, coyotes and jack rabbits of the Tularosa Basin, an area influenced by the legacy of the Mescalero Apaches, who occupied the range until just years before. Ken would go to on to tell his grandchildren he was born on the back of a paint mare while outrunning ensuing natives.

Later in his childhood he moved to El Paso, Texas. He grew up in the cowboy tradition of his father, but he had an independent, even rebellious streak. He was tall, smart, lean, with brooding good looks. A young Steve McQueen, troubling over his impending adulthood. At El Paso High he met his high school sweetheart and, in short order, the mother of his children, Kay Alkire Borden. Kay was 19 and Ken was 23 when their first child was born. Within 5 years they had three.

His independence, his love of horses and his birthright to the cowboy culture influenced his entire life. Ken lived the way he chose. He was an intelligent, restless spirit who could master a task and he never capitulated to the expectations of others or of society. He went on to become, in turn, a railroad conductor, an electrician, a ham radio operator, an over-the-road trucker, a feed store owner, a volunteer fireman and, lastly, a rancher.

In the second half of his life, he settled in the Ouachita National Forest of Arkansas. This return to his father, who retired to the area, and the life of his early childhood seemed to close a perfect circle of searching. He stayed there until the last of his days.
All his life he loved music. His children grew up listening to Bob Wills with the Texas Playboys, Tom T. Hall, Hank Williams and Johnny Horton. As a father, Ken was president of rodeo and 4-H clubs. On his watch there were always dances, and nobody could two-step, with his unhurried, light pass across the dancefloor, like he could. He loved the live bands of the Arkansas hills, country dances, music outdoors, summer picnics, treasure maps and civil war stories.

He was always compelled to be a part of his community and he always helped when he found someone in need. In his last years, after his time with the Norman Volunteer Fire Department, he drove the Mt. Ida senior’s bus to dances and socials, making sure folks got a chance to enjoy each other and a turn across the dancefloor the way he did.

Above all, he loved his God, his church, the Norman United Methodist Church, its congregation, and the Norman Men’s Bible Study group. It is the peace he found through this fellowship that carried him, in his last hours, into the beyond.

Ken is survived by his beloved Ruth Adams Borden, his three children, Kristi Borden, Melody McElwee and Ken Borden. He also leaves behind his grandchildren, Krista Ross, Kelsey Borden, Ryan McElwee, Taylor Borden-Barefoot, Magen Thompson, Lorenza Silva and Gabriella Silva.

Graveside services will be held at 10am, Monday, September 13, 2021, in the Mt. Gilead Cemetery near Black Springs under the direction of Davis-Smith Funeral Home, Glenwood.

Flowers are welcome, or in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Norman United Methodist Church Food Pantry, 109 Main Street, Norman, Arkansas 71960.

Guest registry is at www.davis-smith.com.