Remembering Kenny New scholarship honors memory of local hero Kenny Marjerrison

The Plains schools have been blessed in having so many great instructors and teachers over the years.

Many have touched numerous lives throughout the community and have influenced future community members to follow in their footsteps. However, few have had the same impact that the late Kenny Marjerrison did.

To say that he left the place better than he found it would be an understatement.

Marjerrison graduated from Plains High in 2001. While he was there, he was in wrestling and was taught by a man who would become a lifelong friend, and colleague, Scott Kinney who described Kenny as a “renaissance soul” and as quite a moral person.

Scott said that Kenny was “driven, always, by the right thing.”

Scott explained that Kenny was very black and white, for a person so young, and was straight and fair with everyone. Scott coached Kenny for four years in high school and watched as he learned quickly and became team captain.

He said Kenny would lead by example and was an inspiration, even to those his age and older. He was described as a leader and a kindhearted youth.

Scott also told how Kenny was an excellent writer and was well read. Kenny always sought to learn more, and as put by another of Kenny’s teachers, Thom Chisholm, “Kenny was very eclectic” and was also kind and looked after everyone.

When Thom was working in the school yards, Kenny would always come by and make sure that he was getting enough water and, when they worked together, he always carried two coolers: one of water and one of Lipton iced tea.

Kenny graduated high school and went on to the University of Montana to get a degree in computer science with a minor in criminology, another of his many interest.

Kenny was the IT director for Plains High School, as well as the volunteer wrestling coach for Plains. As the IT Director he improved upon the existing computer system in the school and had the incredible ability to keep it running throughout any crisis or situation.

He was also described with having an innate teaching ability and was gifted with youth. He taught many students how to run the system and did such an excellent job that some of them could even run it, and repair it, nearly as well as he could, and without him.

As the high school wrestling coach, he took his job seriously, and again all of his time was volunteered.

Because of the nature of the Plains School District there is very little to no funding for the sport of wrestling, so students who participate have to fund the venture out of their own pockets, and being that Kenny had such a passion for the sport, and saw in it the importance it has to young men, he would be out helping his team raise the money.

They sold Christmas trees and helped people move, anything that they could do to pay for uniforms, gas for bus travel and even the event fees to compete.

Anything that the school would not cover, and every second Kenny was out there doing it with them. He took his mission to care for his team to an incredibly deep level and sought to help them in anyway they needed.

He was there for them financially, emotionally and scholastically. He often spent time counseling his students or assisting them with whatever subject they may have needed help with, and he could do so quite well.

He had such an ability to learn and grasp subjects that he could talk with anyone about anything; he could help his students in whatever they may not have understood.

As his wife, Kassy, put it “he was a father figure to a lot of the kids in town, and through them influenced their parents, and through them the community.” She also said that he “recognized kids who were having a hard time and gravitated towards them” and “had a great way of identifying needs and providing for them.”

Though some would call it special treatment, Kenny understood that sometimes a child’s circumstances called for a different approach, and an extra helping hand.

Another mention from Chisholm was how every Thursday Kenny would go down to the Butcher’s Nook for the same meal: “cream of turkey noodle soup and chicken nuggets.” It was one of his favorite things.

He partnered with his father, with whom he was very close, in a sawmill venture. Kenny was described as a “master carpenter; an artisan.”

He could build anything that one could dream of out of wood and loved doing it. He built furniture, toys and even the house that his family still lives in today.

Kenny’s talents didn’t stop there. He was also an avid outdoorsman and backpacker, as well as a hunter and fisherman. He also dabbled in photography, in which he was also very talented.

Kassy Marjerrison, Kenny’s wife, graduated Plains in 2002, and they met while he was in wrestling. Since she wasn’t in a winter sport, she helped the wrestling team as their manager. That was where they met, and when they graduated, they both went on to the same college; her the year after him. They returned married and had two kids.

Kenny always had bad eyesight and was in the process of getting Lasik surgery. He had to go out to Missoula for the procedure.

On Oct. 25, 2017, Kenny was driving back from a pre-op appointment, in Missoula, for his surgery. He was on the Plains side of Arlee, on I-93 and for some unknown reason took a sharp veer left into oncoming traffic.

Kenny Marjerrison was 34 years old. He left behind a now 6-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son.

When he died it was only a few weeks from the start of wrestling season and he left behind a team of boys, who no longer had a coach.

A memorial service was held at the Plains gymnasium where more than 1.400 people attended, more than the entire population of Plains.

He now has a scholarship in his name: the Kenny Marjerrison Memorial Scholarship. The anniversary of Kenny’s passing is coming up on two years, in less than a month.

Kenny Marjerrison left behind thousands of lives permanently and profoundly affected by him in an incredibly positive light.

He touched their lives and through them has touched the way the community sees itself and its members.

Though he is no longer around, and his time in Plains seemed short, in fact Kenny made an immeasurable impact on the people.

Though, many may feel as though he was robbed from them, in fact he was only being called to return home. It seems as though he had come and done what he was supposed to do.