Kenneth Lake,

Kenneth E. Lake, Ph.D., of Little Rock, Arkansas, died of natural causes on June 5, 2017, at the age of 90 in Little Rock.
Dr. Lake was born in 1927 in Topeka, KS, the son of Clarence Tyron and Annie Esther Lake. Growing up during the Great Depression left Dr. Lake with memories of living in a small house with older sister, Mary Elizabeth, brother, Clarence Richard, and other members of his extended family. He told of being sent to the store with a quarter to return with 6 hamburgers for dinner.
Leaving high school before graduation ceremonies, young Dr. Lake joined the Merchant Marines, and served at the end of WWII on the troopship, Borinquen, as a radio operator. He then joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Hawaii where he played trombone in the Army band as well as in a swing band.
After his service, Dr. Lake returned to Washburn University in Topeka where he met and married Edith Mary Kruse in August, 1950. Their first date was a lecture given by Helen Keller.
Dr. Lake continued his education, earning a Master's in Mathematics from the University of Kansas and Ph.D. in Philosophy of Education also from the University of Kansas. After receiving his Ph.D. he attended a short post-doctoral fellowship in what was, at the time, the new field of computer science at UCLA. He did not miss the opportunity to use this trip as an educational experience for his growing gamily: traveling by car, they visited national parks and other points of interest. To enliven their road trips, he told his children stories about a fictional group of siblings making a life for themselves in California sang with them and played guessing games.
After a short stay in Kansas City, KS, the family moved to the Panama Canal Zone in 1962. Dr. Lake worked there as a mathematics professor, a public school administrator, and eventually as the assistant dean of the Canal Zone College. During this time he took his family on numerous weekend adventures in the Panamanian countryside and backpacked across the Isthmus of Panama and up the mountain of Baru. Alternate summers were spent back in the U.S. visiting relatives and touring our country's scenic wonders. Dr. Lake was an active leader in the Sea Scouts Explorers program, building sailboats with his sons. Countless tropical evenings were spent picnicking at the many beautiful locations within the Canal Zone.
The re-negotiation of the treaties with Panama in 1977 gave Dr. Lake an opportunity to retire from government service. At this time, he moved to a plot of forested land near Alread, Arkansas, where he and Edith designed and built an energy-efficient earth-sheltered dwelling.
Starting in 1992 at the age of 65, Dr. Lake served with the Peace Corps, traveling to The Gambia and Zanzibar, Tanzania, where he taught at a teacher's college. In 1995, he returned to Alread to live in his earth-sheltered house with Edith until her death in 2001.
While in Arkansas, Dr. Lake was a part of the group who designed the recycling center in Clinton, Arkansas. He also served on the board of the Ozark Cooperative Warehouse, an organic and natural food distributor, and on the school board of Alread School. Dr. Lake taught at Pulaski Tech, UALR and Hendrix College. Throughout his life, he taught courses in mathematics, philosophy, physics, astronomy, Spanish and psychology.
Dr. Lake maintained a lifelong interest in languages. He studied German extensively, was a fluent Spanish speaker, and learned Swahili during his time in the Peace Corps. His beautiful singing voice brought joy to many, and he enjoyed learning and playing many instruments throughout his life, including the trombone, E-flat horn, harmonica, melodeon and harp.
Dr. Lake married Pamela Gibson in 2003 and moved to Little Rock where he continued his second career in psychological counseling, which began with an internship in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1975. After moving to Little Rock, Dr. Lake served as a volunteer mental health counselor for the Red Cross, assisting during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, a flooding emergency in Texas and wildfires in the Western states. In addition to traveling and working to raise community awareness of global warming and its consequences, he taught literacy to inmates and volunteered as a tutor in Little Rock public schools. Only open-heart surgery in 2011 caused him to reduce his level of activity.
Dr. Lake is survived by his wife, Pamela; children, Kenneth Lake, Jr., Sylvia Lake, Melanie Winans, Arek Lake; stepson, Nolan Evans; grandchildren, Graciela Moore, Monica Toby, Shannon Winans, Makenzie Winans; and great-grandchildren, Marisela, Marlena and Gisele.
A private memorial service will be held at a later date.
Those wishing to make donations in Dr. Lake's honor are encouraged to donate to causes important to him; The American Red Cross, Greenpeace, Doctors Without Borders, The Sierra Club, The Audubon Society, The American Civil Liberties Union, National Public Radio or Heifer International.
Online obituary at www.SmithFamilyCares.com .