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Kenneth Arthur Paulson Veteran
March 29, 2020

Obituary

Kenneth Arthur Paulson was born on January 31, 1930 in Opheim, Montana and passed away March 29th at the age of 90, at his home outside of Prosser, WA. Ken believed all of life's problems could be solved by working harder. After graduating from Glasgow HS in 1948 Ken was offered a football scholarship that he later passed on and instead signed up for the Marines. At 19 he was one of the youngest Staff Sergeants in the Corps. He spent 14 months in Korea taking part in the Inchon landing, Battle of Seoul and the Chosin Reservoir and earned a "Letter of Commendation" from Gen. Thomas for his courage and leadership.

After the Marines he came home to work at a sawmill in Longview, WA for a few months then carried mail for 4 years until his friend O.W. Kaipi and Mr. Paul Myer convinced him he should sell Purple Cross insurance. Ken was a natural-born salesman and an unstoppable force in the industry, accumulating countless accolades one of which was "Issued Record set in Funeral Ins" which was awarded to him for selling over 8 million dollars of insurance between 1958-1970, insuring over 10,000 lives. Ken retired from Purple Cross after 60 years.

Growing up on a ranch instilled a love of horses in Ken and later he would go onto help form the Regency Racing Stable with trainer Len Kasmerski, winning a total of 87 races in the first 5 years. After the success of Regency, Ken and his brother Earl purchased 110 acres outside of Granger, WA and formed Paulson Bros Thoroughbred Ranch which received "Breeder of the Year" from W.H.B.A. 5 times in 10 years."Slewledo" and "I'madrifter" were some of their more successful horses.

Some of his other achievements include being an All-state football player, bowling a perfect 300 game in a state tournament. Training over 200 purple cross agents and driving over 2 million miles to tell the Purple Cross story. In 2001 alone he wrote over 1 million dollars in insurance and was nominated and accepted into the"Million Dollar Round Table" He sponsored and coached the Purple Cross basketball team that would go onto win consecutive State AAU championships 1987, 1988. Served as Agency Director for the Board of Directors for Purple Cross. Raised 5 Northwest Champion horses, had two yearling horse sales topper @ $93,000 in 2004 and $67,000 in 2005. He also served on two other boards, the Apple Tree Racing and Washington Horse Breeder Association.

Ken is survived by his wife Patricia, his son Mark and grandchildren Ryan & Maria, Nicholas and Trevor, great grandson Carter Kenneth Paulson, stepsons / daughters Bill & Balinda, Shane & Sami, Gary & Judi and Chuck and Mike and countless other close friends and family. He was preceded in death by his wife Joyce, daughter Tamara, brothers Earl and Edward, sisters Gladys, Beulah, and June. Due to current events, the celebration of life will be held at a later date, possibly in the summer. Contact Nicholas for any questions you may have. 509-480-0710. You may leave a message for the family at www.Prosserfuneralhome.com


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Prosser Funeral Home
1220 Sheridan Avenue
Prosser, WA 99350
509-786-3642