By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – “Happy-go-lucky” is how Don Munson described Ken Behrens when the recent Illinois State University graduate came on board at WJBC in the early 1970s.

More than a decade later, Behrens made this reporter, also an ISU alum, feel right at home when he joined the staff.

Since finding out Ken was so very sick with lung cancer, and when he passed away on Sunday, so many of you reminded me that Ken was a man of many talents. Most important though, he was so darn nice.

I don’t remember a time when Ken was not smiling. I would anchor newscasts during his midday show, which was really cool when stars like Larry Linville from M*A*S*H or Bernie Kopell from The Love Boat and Get Smart were in the studio.

Each newscast, I looked up and saw Ken with that same smile writing down the barometric pressure, checking the wind speed and direction, and the WJBC temperature, making sure I was providing the latest weather information.

Ken would walk back to the newsroom for a coffee refill…again with a smile…acknowledging my presence as I struggled to get through a newscast without messing up. At times, he kind of looked like one of his comedic heroes, Stan Laurel.

It occurs to me that although he interviewed the rich and famous, he respected and was so interested in the work done by everyone else at the station.

I remember Ken shaking his head, but still with a smile on his face, when Sammy Davis Jr. and Jim Henson from Muppet fame passed away on the same day. I covered the celebration of life held at The Normal Theater for local favorite son, McLean Stevenson. The master of ceremonies that night, our own Ken Behrens.

It’s Ken’s life we’re celebrating now. May his memory be a blessing for all who knew and loved him.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]