Celebrating 90 years is a big accomplishment for Wayne Kucks, who’s had plenty of health issues after he retired. His family honored him with a party at the Scotts Community Center on December 2 with his many friends invited to join in.
Music has been his life, starting when he was 14 in Kalamazoo on an old guitar. He used to play with a group of kids at the age 15 at the Recreation Park near the fairgrounds on Saturday nights. For many years, he and his wife. June, have been stalwarts with the Kalamazoo Folk Life Society. Together they have been programming the music for the Vicksburg Farmers’ Market, often filling in if an entertainer couldn’t make it on short notice.
Kucks enlisted in the Air Force in 1951 and served until 1955 in the U.S. and Korea. He came back to work at Durametallic in Kalamazoo for 39 years and had his own machine shop until he became sick. He has been active in the VFW for many years, serving on the rifle squad for special occasions. Between Wayne and June, his third wife, they have seven children. They were married in 1982, shortly after they met at Mar-Joes in Vicksburg.