bio

      Kenneth E. (Ken) Woodard was born in Robinson, TX on October 20, 1936. His family
moved to Bruceville, TX when he was three-months old. Ken graduated from Bruceville-Eddy
High School in 1955. One week after high school graduation, he began what became a 20-
year career in the budding television industry. Always a behind-the-scenes person, he
entered the profession as a floorman/studio cameraman at KCEN-TV, Temple-Waco, TX.
The studio was about two miles from his home.

     In September of 1959, Ken married Shirley Haddock, a life-long resident of Falls County,
TX. She also attended the Bruceville-Eddy school system. Ken took his new bride to a new
state and to a new job. He started work at WABG-TV in Greenwood, MS about six weeks
before it went on-the-air. Ironically, Ken ran the first National Anthem film signaling the birth of
a new TV station on his own birthday. Due to a microwave system not being completed to
Greenwood, WABG-TV operated as an independent station for a year. Everything that aired
was either live or on film.. Among his other duties, Ken handled all of the film chores,
including projection.

     In early 1962, Ken took a job as film director at a TV station back in Texas. He, along with
Shirley and their baby daughter, Sylvia, journeyed to Wichita Falls. They were there for 13
years. Another daughter, Kenda, was born there. The station in Wichita Falls was the third
Channel 6 Ken would call home. The call letters were KSYD-TV when he began work in
Wichita Falls, but a change of ownership brought about a change of call letters. KAUZ-TV
was the name chosen through a national contest of advertising representatives.

     Ken loved the film director duties, but with video tape technology improving each year, he
realized that his job description had a limited future. Not without some difficulty, Ken obtained
a B.S. and a M.S., each with a major in biology, from Midwestern University in Wichita Falls.
(The school is now known as Midwestern State University.) Ken loved the TV business, the
people and the towns where he worked, but it was time to move on.

     Finding a job in the mid-1970s was difficult at best.   Adding in the additional handicap of
being a new college grad in his mid-30s made the task downright frustrating. Eventually, the
right job came along. And for Ken, the perfect job.   He couldn’t have written a job description
any more to his liking. He was employed with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in
Stephenville and began as a technician for the Plant Pathologist. At that time, the
Stephenville station was one of the world’s leading peanut research facilities. After 22 years,
Ken was a Senior Research Associate in Plant Pathology at the Stephenville station and was
a respected plant disease diagnostician. He considered himself the world authority on
Sclerotinia blight of peanut, but that title was not universally accepted.

     Ken retired from TAES-Stephenville in 1997 and Shirley retired from Tarleton State
University the next year. After retirement, they moved to Victoria, TX where the winters are
mild. (This past Christmas Day, there was a 12-inch snow storm in Victoria.) Sylvia and
Kenda both graduated from Stephenville High School. Sylvia earned a B.S. and M.S. from
Tarleton State. Kenda got a B.S. from Texas Womens University in Denton, TX and a M.S. at
the University of Houston-Victoria. Both daughters are involved in the special education field.