Longtime NEWS writer Ken Ward dies at 74 Brewer native started ‘The Railbird’ column in 1978

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Ken Ward was captivated by harness racing.

He never ceased to marvel at the bugler’s call to the post, the thundering of hooves, the roar of the crowd, the duel down the homestretch, and the railbirds’ shouts of exultation, or groans of dismay, at the race’s end.

Ward, the award-winning writer of the Bangor Daily News column “The Railbird” and a former editor and pressman at the paper, died Monday in Bangor during heart surgery. He was 74.

The Brewer native joined the NEWS family in 1960 when he was hired as a printer in the composing room. Ward served as a camera operator, advertising makeup man and proofreader before moving to the editorial department in 1980 to become an assistant editor on the Maine Desk.

Three years later, he was named state editor, a position he held until his retirement as a full-time employee in 1991.

“Kenny had a gift for meeting challenges with competence, confidence and an irrepressible sense of humor,” said NEWS Publisher Richard J. Warren. “He cared sincerely and deeply for the people he worked with, and they for him.”

Ward was a fixture on the Maine harness racing scene, especially at Bangor Raceway. He parlayed his initial interest in the sport into a regular newspaper column, “The Railbird,” which he initiated in November, 1978, to recognize the hardworking Maine people in the industry.

“For NEWS readers Kenny Ward will forever be ‘The Railbird,’ a columnist who wrote with an insider’s knowledge of harness racing, and a passion for that sport, its people and the Maine tradition it represented,” Warren said. “He was respected colleague and versatile professional who excelled as a compositor, editor and writer.”

In 2000, Ward was selected for the New England Harness Writers Hall of Fame. He had previously been honored by the Maine Harness Horseman’s Association in 1988 with its print media award for his “excellent reporting of harness racing in Maine.”

For the last several years, during Bangor’s extended meet, it was Ward who typed out the race starters and results for distribution to statewide media from a small room at Bangor Raceway.

“When I first came up here, I started reading his column and enjoying it,” said Fred Nichols, raceway manager in Bangor. “It was the place to get news if you weren’t in the business, if you were just a fan. It was a newsworthy column.”

Ward eventually realized a harness racing dream when, along with longtime friend Tom Smith of Holden, he became a horse owner of Forward Will and Fairy Fast.

“He was a real nice guy, a likeable guy, a real close friend,” Smith said. “He thought a lot of the industry and he was always concerned about the decline of it. He loved it.”

Since his retirement from the NEWS 10 years ago, Ward also operated The Maine Gate Inc., a company that leases starting gates to all Maine racetracks for extended meets and fairs.

The affable Ward, who enjoyed his regular chats with horsemen, track workers and racing officials, even volunteered some of his free time at Bangor Raceway.

“He did have a keen interest in the young horses, particularly the 2-year-olds,” Nichols said. “He came up a couple of times a week and helped with the schooling,” which trains younger horses how to get used to the operation of the starting car and gate.

Ward was a member of the Maine Harness Horseman’s Association, vice president of the Downeast Harness Horseman’s Association, and belonged to the New England Harness Horseman’s Association and the U.S. Trotting Association.

John Palmer, who worked alongside Ward in the NEWS composing room for many years, shared Ward’s passion for harness racing and enjoyed going to the track with him.

“I used to be with Kenny a lot. We’d go to a lot of different tracks,” Palmer said. “He liked the atmosphere of it. Kenny was a very sociable person. He was an awful lot of fun to be with.”

Veteran NEWS editor Jeff Strout, who is himself always ready with a joke, said one of Ward’s best qualities was his unflagging sense of humor.

“He was a great one for practical jokes,” Strout said.

“He was able to find the lighter side in the newsroom, which sometimes was full of stuff that was too serious,” he added. “We’ll miss him. He was always there with a smile and a joke. The world would be a better place if there were more like him.”

Ward had many smiles and jokes with Kent Ward, an assistant managing editor and columnist at the NEWS who was frequently confused with his co-worker.

“Just the other day I got a letter in my box that was meant for him,” Kent Ward said. “It was a standing joke throughout our careers. He said long ago, ‘don’t fight it. I’ll take credit for you and you take credit for me.’ ”

On one occasion, however, Kent Ward did fight it – when he received the hospital bill for the birth of one of Ken Ward’s daughters.

“We laughed about that one for years,” Kent Ward said. “He had a great sense of humor and was always on a very even keel. It was nice to have that type of temperament [in the newsroom].”

Ward served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, from 1944-1946. He was a former member of the Communications Workers of America and the former treasurer of the Greater Bangor Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO.

Ward and Smith remained friends even though Ward was what Nichols described as a liberal democrat, while Smith is a staunch conservative.

“We used to kid each other about [being at opposite ends of the political spectrum],” Smith said. “Him being a union man and all, there were times we’d say, ‘we’ll wait until we have a six pack of beer to continue this argument.’ ”

In addition, Ward was a member and past Master of the Ralph J. Pollard Lodge No. 217 of Orrington, the Scottish Rite Bodies Valley of Portland and the Anah Temple Shrine. He also served as the editor of the Shrine Circus Book and had been assistant editor of the Anahgram.

Don Corey of Holden recalls having the opportunity as a youngster to benefit from Ward’s guidance during Sunday school at the First Congregational Church in Brewer.

“He was the [Sunday school] superintendent at the time and he couldn’t get anybody to take our class because we were such a bad group of kids,” Corey chuckled.

Ward had a knack for dealing successfully with the group, which wound up having him as a teacher for three grades.

“He related well to the kids,” Corey said. “He had a big impact on a lot of kids. He kept it interesting. He came up with some alternative things to do with kids that made them like going to Sunday school and church.”

Ward loved horses, but nothing was more important to him than his family. He was a devoted husband and was constantly accompanied by his wife Dorothy.

Ward was described by friends as a loving father and a doting grandfather.

Ward showed his understanding of the importance of family when he helped out friend Joe Brooks. They worked together on the state desk.

Brooks’ father was very ill and wanted to make a trip to Canada to visit a Catholic shrine, but Brooks was unsure how he could transport him.

“Kenny said ‘take my conversion van, and I don’t want to hear any ifs, ands or buts about it,’ ” Brooks said. “That, for me, enabled some of my fondest memories with my father. That gesture on Kenny’s part made me fall in love with that man forever.”

Ward is survived by his wife Dorothy; sons Mark Ward, David Ward and Daniel Ward; daughters Mary Cox and Melissa Winchester; sisters Jerry Smalling, Constance Cox and Elizabeth Lang; brother Ralph Ward; and several grandchildren.

Friends may call 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Brookings-Smith, Clark-Piper Chapel, 55 So. Main St., Brewer, where funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday.