Local Writer Reflects on Literary Journey, May Pen a Third

Deer Park resident Kenny Campbell retired years ago, but now enjoys a second career as an author. He’s released two books, “Stories I Lived” and “More Stories I Lived,” and said he just might have a third in him.

“I’ve got plenty of material,” he said. “I could easily do another one.”

Campbell, age 95, certainly has a long life full of stories to draw on. He said he was raised in the mountains near Tonasket, Wash., and came to Spokane right out of high school with the intention of going to a trade school to become a mechanic.

He said his plans were delayed when he “met a Spokane girl" and got married. He worked for Pacific Fruit and Produce and then worked for Desoto Plymouth in downtown Spokane for 10 years. Then, Campbell said a friend talked him into going into business for himself. He opened Jim and Ken’s Auto Repair at 1227 W. Riverside.

He later moved his business to Trent Avenue and Desmet and got his auto dealer license. Campbell said he owned and operated Ken’s Auto Repair and Sales for 30 years. Along the way, he also hosted a radio show called Christian Lifeline. It was a live show on KUDY for 26 years, then a taped show after Clear Channel bought the radio station. After a few years, iHeart Radio bought out the station, and Campbell lost his show.

Campbell said he loved doing a live radio show, which he did for free. “I got acquainted with a lot of people that way,” he said. “It was fun and nerve-racking and hard to describe. Sometimes it was really relaxing, and sometimes it was the opposite. It was a major part of my life for close to 30 years.”

Every year, Campbell said he and his wife, Eleanor, sent out huge batches of Christmas cards. He said it was a lot of work, and his wife suggested writing a form letter to include in each one. “I said, ‘Oh, those are boring,’” Campbell said.

But she kept talking about it, so Campbell relented. But he didn’t write a typical form letter recounting everything his family had done that year. Instead, he said he wrote a story based on his childhood. People liked it. He wrote a second, then a third, then just kept going.

After a while, Campbell compiled many of those stories into a book, published by Teach Services, called “Stories I lived.” It was published in 2004. He said his brother-in-law, Ron Livingston, made drawings to accompany many of the stories.

Campbell said he writes of childhood friends at the Lemanasky School, growing up, and the fire lookout atop Aeneas Mountain.

That lookout is gone now. Campbell said it was torn down with little warning, leaving him sad about the loss of one of his childhood favorites. “Some of the stories in my book center around that lookout,” he said.

But Campbell doesn’t just tell funny or heartwarming stories from his youth. He takes the opportunity to relate each story to his faith, ending with a message to contemplate as they finish each story.

“There’s quite a bit of humor in it,” he said. “I try to make dull things interesting, and I’m not above having some laughs.”

The first book went well enough, selling several thousand copies, that Campbell said it inspired him to publish a second in 2022. “The first book was pretty good,” he said. “That’s why I went back and did it again.”

Since then, however, Campbell has become disillusioned with his publisher. “I’m very unhappy with my publisher,” he said. “They’ve broken their contract with me. They won’t answer my letters. I sent them certified mail, and they don’t answer.”

If he does write a third book, Campbell said, he’ll use a different publisher.

Campbell has also struggled with promoting himself as an author. “It’s been difficult selling myself, selling my books,” he said.

Copies of “More Stories I Lived” are available for purchase on Amazon and other websites.