Funeral services will be held Monday, June 19 at 1 p.m. at the Oregon Trail State Veterans Cemetery, 80 Veterans Road, Evansville, for Ben Kern, 90, who died on Monday in Evansville. Visitation will be held from 10:30 to noon at Newcomers Funeral Home in Casper.

For more than 50 years Ben Kern traveled the overland trails of the American West. He began leading wagon trains in Oregon in the 1960s and since 1993 took wagons over the major emigrant trails including the Oregon, Mormon, California, Goodale, Bozeman, Cherokee South Branch, Overland, and Cheyenne-Deadwood routes.

Through the years he took part in many film reenactments including all films for the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, the “In Pursuit of a Dream” documentary for the Oregon-California Trails Association, and other films for the Discovery Channel, History Channel, BBC, and other production outlets.

Benny Leroy Kern was born Sept. 9, 1926, in Bridgeport, NE, to Lloyd and Ila Case Kern. He came to Wyoming with his family at age nine and with his father began working on ranches in the Arlington/Rock River area. By the time he was a teenager he quit school and went to work as a cowboy on ranches near Medicine Bow, Elk Mountain, and Encampment before enlisting in the US Navy where he served as a machinist on the USS Ormsby and the USS Jason from 1944 to 1947 earning many meritorious medals.

After his service, he returned to Wyoming, worked on ranches near Rawlins and Buffalo, and then went to Oregon. He spent many years in Oregon working for the Oregon State Highway Department, as a light and heavy equipment operator, and in ranch work.

Ben again returned to Wyoming where he became a light equipment operator for the City of Casper. Following his retirement he worked on a variety of ranches and he became a wagon master driving or leading wagons across the emigrant trails. In 2016 he donated his wagon to the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, where it has become an exhibit to interpret his trail travels.

Ben was married three times: to Shannon Kay Mangan, Billie Louise, and Viola Coley. He had a son, Kit Kern, and a daughter Kelly Kern Whitaker, three grandsons, one granddaughter, and many stepchildren.

He is survived by his son, Kit Kern and brother, Bob Kern, both of Oregon, his grandchildren, stepchildren, and many other relatives and friends. His three wives and his daughter all preceded him in death.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the National Historic Trails Center Foundation.


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