Ken Sympson was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1941. His father was originally from the Bardstown area, and the family moved  to the Deatsville area in 946. He attended grade school at St. Gregory's in Samuels and entered St Joseph Prep  in 1955.

In 1959, Ken graduated from the Prep with a NROTC scholarship, He was admitted to the University of California at Los Angeles in the fall of 1959. In his third year of NROTC he gained entrance into the Marine Option program. Ken graduated in 1963 with a BA in Mathematics, He was commissioned then as a Second Lieutenant in the United States marine Corps.

Upon completion of Basic School, Ken was assigned as an artillery officer, He attended the Army Artillery School, and then reported for duty at Camp Pendleton, California. While there, he attended several Navy and USMC courses, including: naval gunfire spotting; interrogation and translation; nuclear, biological and chemical defense.

In July 1965, as a First Lieutenant Artillery Forward Observer, Ken landed in South Viet man in support of infantry units of the 3d Battalion, Seventh marines. He later served as the Artillery Liaisons Officer to the 2d Battalion, Fourth marines, and Executive Officer of Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 12 Marines. While serving in Vietnam, he participated in several major offensive operations including Operation Starlite, Operation Double Eagle and Operation Texas. Upon completing his tour in Vietnam., Ken was assigned as the Guard Officer of the Marine Barracks, Barbers Point, Hawaii. He was promoted to Caption in 1966 and left active duty in 1967.

Ken married Angela Forcella who was originally from Rochester, New York. Upon discharge in 1967, the family moved to Rochester, New York. They have three daughters, Laurie, who was born in Vietnam, Wendy, born in Hawaii, and Stacey, born in New York.

In Rochester, Ken initially worked for the Friden Company training programmers and salesmen on the operation of the company's data processing products. In 1971 he went to work for Computer Consoles. a small startup company specializing in the development of computer systems for the telecommunications industry. He led the design of several systems, including the world's first commercially available directory assistance system. Over his career with Computer Consoles, Ken served as the Director of Systems Engineering. Director of Advanced technologies, and Director of International standards. the company was acquired in 1995 by Nortel Networks. Ken retired from Nortel in 2001.

Ken's military decorations include: Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device, Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Commendation, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Bronze Star, and the Vietnam Campaign Metal. The State of New York has awarded him the Conspicuous Service Cross and the Conspicuous Service Star. The Rochester, NY, Chamber of Commerce presented him with their 1992 Chairman's Award for leadership in founding and managing "Operation Welcome Home," a community effort to assure that the veterans of  Operation Desert Storm would be properly welcomed back into the community.

Ken is the author of "Images from the Otherland, Memoir of a United States Marine Corps Artillery Officer in Vietnam" published iUniverse, Inc. (www.iUniverse.com).

Ken and Angela remain in Webster, New York. They have three daughters, six grandsons and one granddaughter.