As is the story with many great individuals, Kenny Rapier came from humble beginnings. He was born and raised in the "Henrytown" part of Bardstown a few years after the end of the great depression. Raised by his mother since he was a young boy, she instilled in him the virtues of honesty, integrity and hard work which carry forward with him to this day.

After attending Bethlehem Academy for his first six years of elementary school, he then worked his way through St. Joe Prep. Although he worked after school and every summer, he still found time to serve as class president and co-captain of the football team.

After graduation from high school he served two years of duty in the U.S. Army. While in the service, he drew the "hard" time of being stationed in Hawaii. He likes to joke that served his country very well by playing football and coaching little league baseball.

After serving his hitch in the Army he returned home to Bardstown. In 1959, the same year in which Hawaii became a state, he began working for Harvey Barnes, married Norma Greenwell, a Fairfield girl, and later began to attend night school at Bellarmine College. Seven years and three children later he graduated.

In December of 1971 he opened his own business, starting out in a small building on North Fourth Street. He moved and expanded over the years and now some years later, Kenny's Cleaners represents one of the most respected and well known businesses in Nelson County.

It wasn't too much later that Kenny made his first venture into politics. In 1975 he ran and was elected to a seat on the Bardstown Independent School Board of Education. That must have just whetted his appetite for public office, since right after stepping down from the school board, he ran for and was elected House Majority Whip, a position he held until his retirement. Furthermore, he retired with the perfect record of never being defeated in any election for which he ran (but that's not a statistic you would ever hear from him).

Kenny served for many years on the powerful Appropriations and Revenue Committee as well as the Transportation and State Government Committees. Kenny was not only instrumental, but sponsored much of the legislation written and passed by the general assembly during the seventeen years he served. Included in this historic list are:

He didn't forget his constituency during that period either. Some of the results of having a gentleman of his caliber and intelligence in Frankfort can be seen in:

As if this were not enough he even had time to continue to give back to his community by serving on the boards of:

Putting all of these prior accomplishments aside, only a statesman of Kenny's caliber and influence could have helped Bardstown and Nelson County with the following projects in 1996:

All the while spearheading the Worker's Comp reform legislation.

In 1996 Kenny Rapier was named the Bardstown/Nelson County Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year.

However, the best way to recognize such an individual is to listen to how his close friends and associates describe him: (These were taken from the many letters received nominating Kenny for the Citizen of the Year award)