NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/683373
82 NEBRASKAland • JUNE 2016 I just noticed the obituary for the photographer Ken Bouc, who passed away April 8. Ken Bouc was the NEBRASKAland magazine editor and photographer who met my wife Carolyn on the shore of Branched Oak Lake almost 37 years ago. It was at sunset, on the north shore near our campsite, where he asked Carolyn to pose for a picture next to our little sailboat. I don't remember where the kids and I were at that moment, but I distinctly remember Carolyn coming back from the shore all smiles, and mentioning somewhat modestly that she had posed for one Ken Bouc at our sailboat. She recalled that Ken asked her only to stand by the boat, look like she was doing sailboat things. She said she did as asked and her photo would likely appear with others in the magazine soon. Ken's photograph captured this young women with the sailboat rigging and the sunset in her outstretched hands. We treasured that photo when it was published, but, like so many other things a young family does, we put our copy of the magazine away in some shoebox or other in the attic for safekeeping. Carolyn passed away January 4 of this year. A few days before the funeral, this photograph, and Ken's name and the publication, came into my head in a dream that meant we needed to find the photo and share it. So our family went to Lincoln in a rush, and worked with the good people at NEBRASKAland to look for this photo. They found and delivered to us Ken's photo and a copy of the May 1979 magazine in which it appeared. I never had a chance to meet with Ken, or to say thanks and tell him how much that one photo, from all of his good photography, meant to Carolyn and me and our family, then and now. Anyway, thanks Ken, from all of us to you for sharing your artful views of the beauty of Nebraska and its people through the lens of your camera. Jim Boucher Valley, Nebraska Remembering Ken Bouc KEN BOUC Ken worked at NEBRASKAland Magazine as a writer and photographer from 1969 until 2007, producing more than 260 articles and countless images. Ken died April 8, 2016.