KENNETH ARLAND HOUSTON

NEWPORT – Kenneth Arland Houston, 74, died July 9, 2009, at his home. He was born April 21, 1935, in Waterville, son of Hallett and Blanche (Latulippe) Houston. He lived there until he and his mother moved to Attleboro, Mass., during World War II. After the war he returned to Waterville and was educated in Waterville schools, where he met his future wife, Annette Picher. Together they attended Colby College, where he majored in geology, graduating in 1958. He and Annette married in December of that year, and they moved to Germany while Ken proudly served in the U.S. Air Force. There they had two sons, Christopher and David, before returning to Waterville in 1962. Their third child, Margaret, was born in 1965. A hard worker since teenage years, Ken was a true polymath. He sold shirts and wrist watches; served as a log driver, geologist, airman, spy and translator; worked as a researcher, gunsmith, newsman, radio announcer and advertising executive. He was a five-time Maine State pistol champion. He loved to play guitar and mandolin. In his retirement, Ken used his talents as announcer to record children’s books for the Newport school district. He was a voracious reader and avid writer, and wrote many short stories and essays celebrating “Maine’s simplicity and common sense,” he wrote, “which, it seems to me, is indistinguishable from the wisdom of the ages.” He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Annette Picher Houston of Newport; children, Christopher Houston of Berkeley, Calif., David Houston and his wife, Muriel Fish, of Smithfield and Meg Houston Maker and her husband, Steven Maker, of Lyme, N.H., several nieces and nephews. He will also be remembered by Muriel’s children, Stephanie Vermette and Brandon Libby of Norridgewock. Friends may call 1-3 p.m. Sunday, July 12, at Brown Funeral Home and Cremation Service Center, 34 High St., Newport. Friends who wish may make memorial donations in Ken’s name to Newport Cultural Center, 23 Water St., Newport, ME 04953. To sign an online guest book and leave written tributes, please visit www.PhilipBrownFuneralHome.com.