Kenneth R. Helms joined the Navy after high school, and spent three years on the USS Benjamin Stoddert, making port visits in Japan, Korea, Guam, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Western and American Samoa, Fiji and Tuvalu.

Ken attended Lane Community College and then Oregon State University, getting a BS in Zoology. He earned an MS from the University of Nevada, Reno. He also worked for the Nevada Department of Agriculture conducting plant and insect surveys and maintaining the state insect collection. He earned a PhD from Arizona State University.

He held postdoctoral and research faculty positions at Arizona State, Texas A&M, the University of Lausanne, and the University of Vermont.

Ken is survived by his wife Sara, his son, his grandson, his three sisters, and eight nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents Verna Mae and Bobby, and his brother.