Editor’s note: The following is an article that was first published on Oct. 24, 2018, concerning Ron Kimball, who had announced he was closing Kimball’s Insurance. Kimball died on June 14. His obituary can be found here.

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Ron Kimball has always epitomized what a downtown businessman should be. Not only is he an insurance agent and owner of Kimball’s Insurance at 402 N. Washington Ave. in Wellington, but he has been a community leader and a family man.

So on Oct. 1, when Kimball Insurance announced that it was being sold, there is a little bit of sadness attached to the announcement. Kimball Insurance has been sold to IMA Financial Group, which has branches in Colorado, Kansas, Michigan and Texas. Kimball will remain at his office throughout the year until the sale transition is complete in Oct. 1, 2019.

Kimball doesn’t know exactly what he is going to do with his retirement.

“I guess I’ll play some golf, maybe a lot of it,” he said.

Kimball said part of the reason for his retirement has been his health. He suffered a stroke last year and has been fighting lung cancer for several years. As far as the cancer is concerned, it is in remission.

Kimball has helped people with their home, auto, and life insurance needs since 1986 when he bought the business in downtown Wellington from Donald Hyten, his former boss. He came to work as an agent there in 1973 and has been there ever since.

When asked what was the biggest change in the insurance business, he says the advent of the online insurance business.

“Things are so much more competitive these days,” he said.

While he is an insurance man, his activism in the community can’t be underemphasized. And there is no doubt his love for his family. And, of course, there is hardly anyone in Wellington, albeit veterinarian Richard Heersche, that bleeds more K-State purple than Mr. Kimball.

Ron Kimball has a love for Kansas State – an understatement if there ever was one.

The minute you enter his office, there is a sea of purple memorabilia, magazine articles, banners, golf balls, pictures, old stub K-State tickets, and coffee mugs with the K-State Powercats. If there is anything Jayhawk in the place, it is only at its own expense to elevate the status of the Powercat nation.

It wasn’t always like this in the building. Kimball was the dark sheep of the Hyten business when he first arrived. The Hytens were Jayhawk Blue, and his long-time assistant Terry Brawley has always supported KU.

But K-State is the reason why Kimball got to Wellington in the first place. Back in the day, Kimball was a great high school football player from Chicago. And he received a scholarship to play football at K-State in the early 1970s. He was a 185-pound defensive back, and he was playing during a brief point in time when K-State was sporting a pretty good football program in the pre-Snyder era.

“I don’t think I could play DI football today,” Kimball said. “But we weren’t bad during the time I was there. Gibson had (quarterback) Lynn Dickey and we were very competitive.”  Dickey, as a lot of you football enthusiasts would know, would go on to play quarterback in the NFL for the Houston Oilers and Green Bay Packers.

Ron with his wife Debbie and Willie the Wildcat. Whether they did pushups after this picture was taken is highly debated. 

It was there at K-State that he met Debbie Deschaine from Wellington. Upon his college graduation, he would marry her.

The two would spend a couple of more years in Manhattan, while he attended graduate school. Then they decided to make their home in Wellington. It was definitely a long way from Chicago.

The Kimballs would raise a family. It was here they had three children: Chaney, Ashley, and Nicole.

Ron Kimball and his three children: Nicole, Ashley and Chaney.

There have always been two colors of blood inside Ron: K-State purple and Crusader red.

As his children grew, so was Kimball’s Crusader spirit. He was a youth football coach when Chaney was small. He would soon become the president of the Crusader Club.

Along the way, he was part of the Wellington Optimist Club and got involved with the Community Easter Egg hunt.

The Easter egg hunt, which started at Donut Bay and eventually moved to Hargis Creek, lasted longer than the organization itself. When the organization disbanded more than a decade ago, Kimball decided the Easter egg hunt was too important not to continue. So it became a Kimball Insurance sponsorship. He and a few of his former Optimist Club buddies kept the “egg” rolling. And the event would get even bigger.

The Kimball Insurance-sponsored Easter Egg was without a doubt the biggest around.

In the latter years, the group was buying 2,000 plastic eggs and 10,000 pieces of candy.

There was always a big white bunny there for the children. Ashley was the Easter Bunny for a few years, and so was Nicole. Then it became the job of his grandchildren.

Ron has watched two generations of his family grow up in Wellington.

His oldest granddaughter, Alex, graduated from K-State and is now living in California as a teacher. Time, indeed, flies.

Ron’s granddaughter Alex graduated from Wellington and K-State to the happiness of her granddad.

Speaking of which, Alex was the first offspring to go to Ron’s beloved K-State. Chaney went to Wichita State. Ashley and Nicole chose not to go to college.

At least, none of his kids attended KU, Kimball said with relief. When asked what would have happened had one of them decided to do so, he sighed and stared blankly, finally saying: “only if they had to.”

Kimball has turned his love for K-State into a community passion. He helped organize and head the South-Central Catbacker’s golf tournament – an annual fundraiser in Wellington in June. The event has attracted some of the biggest K-State names. Head football coach Bill Snyder has been here at least three times. There has been Frank Martin and Bruce Weber, and a slew of K-State athletes too numerous to mention.

Through it all, Kimball has maintained a great sense of humor and calming presence.

Kimball is as much Wellington, as Wellington is Kimball.

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