Kenneth Douglas Mundie

Kenneth Douglas Mundie, 97, passed away on April 3, 2023, from natural causes.
    Ken was born on October 7, 1925, in Los Angeles. He spent the first five years of his life in Detroit, Michigan. When the Great Depression hit, his family became homeless, and they moved to Virginia to live with his grandparents. His father was a house painter, and a moonshiner during prohibition. In 1931, the police told Ken’s father that they needed to get out of Virginia, so they returned to Detroit, where he lived until he was 17 years old.
   Throughout his childhood, Ken wanted to be an athlete. He loved baseball but switched to tennis thanks to his beloved sister Hazel. They played together in Palmer Park, and during the winter Ken would speed skate on the frozen lake in that park. Unfortunately, he suffered from rheumatic fever. It caused him great pain and limited his abilities, but it never diminished his love for those sports. He had a tenacious spirit and continued to participate in his favorite activities well towards the end of his life.
     On October 7, 1942, he enlisted in the USMC at the age of 17. He was stationed in San Diego and served in the South Pacific. When he returned from the war, he used the GI Bill to enroll in art school in California. His mother always saw his potential as an artist and pushed him to pursue that career despite his love of sports.
   He studied illustration under Elwood Fordham and Mentor Huebner. However, there weren’t many opportunities available once he finished his education. He was prepared to begin a career working as a drill press operator when his school suggested he apply to Disney. Disney saw his potential, hired him, and trained him to be an animator. This changed the course of his life, and became the cornerstone for his future. He worked on classics such as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Lady and the Tramp, and 101 Dalmatians.
    It was around this time that Ken took up skiing, and he traveled all around the world to find the best places to ski. In 1952, he left Disney to pursue other opportunities. He soon migrated to Washington, DC, and bounced around different studios that were enamored with the fact that he had worked at Disney. Eventually, he joined the Washington Post as an illustrator. After a couple of years of providing illustrations to accompany both local and national news stories, he once again moved on. He freelanced as an assistant animator and wound up at North American Aviation to offer an artist’s perspective on their endeavors during the Apollo project.
     After his work at North American, he moved on to work for Friz Freleng. While working for Freleng, he animated the opening titles to the original Wild Wild West TV show and the opening titles to The Great Race. He then took an opportunity to pursue his own ideas and independently animated his short film "The Door" in a small home in Germany. That film caught the attention of Bill Cosby and was sold to Warner Brothers. Cosby then hired Ken to direct the Fat Albert pilot and would employ Ken a few decades later to animate for the "Two Friends" special. The Fat Albert pilot caught the eye of Chuck Jones, who then hired Ken to work with Richard Williams on a production of Dickens' A Christmas Carol in London. When he returned to the US, he then migrated to Chicago and began working for Leo Burnett Advertising. There he animated for various ad campaigns, such as Kellogg's "Yes We Can" Bicentennial campaign.
     He met his future wife, Delores, at Leo Burnett. He admired how strong and tenacious she was. When they fell in love and got married, her family took him in as one of their own. He spent the rest of his life with her. They had one son, Morgan, who was born in Sun Valley, Idaho. While Ken had purchased a condo in Ketchum, Idaho, in the early 80s, he had to sell it and move back to Los Angeles from 1986 to 1991 to earn money for his family. In 1991, he moved back to Hailey, Idaho, where he spent the rest of his life.
     He "slowed down" in retirement by contributing storyboards to Saturday morning cartoons such as The New Adventures of Johnny Quest, Pinky and the Brain, Life with Louie, Fox’s Peter Pan and the Pirates, and Casper the Friendly Ghost. Ken loved art, and this is a truncated retelling of all of his accomplishments as an artist. To him, art was a kind of magic, and it frustrated him when people didn’t appreciate that. He loved talking to and helping other artists. From painting classes to introductory animation courses, he believed his knowledge and experience were meant to be shared.
     It was only in his last few months, when his strength finally ebbed, that he stopped making art. Ken died peacefully in his home with his son and wife at his side.
Ken was predeceased by his father, James; his brother, James Jr.; his mother, Elizabeth; his sister, AnnaMae; his brother, William Reible; his sister, Lucille; and his nephew, Will. He is survived by his wife, Delores; his son, Morgan; his sister, Hazel Crljenko; his nieces, Sally (Greg) Hands and Nancy (George) Kelbley, and his nephew; John (Susan) Crljenko.
    Please join us in celebrating his life on Monday, April 24, 2023, starting at 3 p.m. at Wood River Chapel, 403 N. Main St., Hailey, ID.

Everyone is invited to share in the service on this Zoom link:

Topic: Wood River Chapel's Zoom Meeting
Time: Apr 24, 2023 02:45 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83706912673?pwd=aEsvMEFIdHQ0cmZpRXpNTDJ1N0tKZz09

Meeting ID: 837 0691 2673
Passcode: 843175