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July 1, 2010
Pratt, KS - Tuttle Creek State Park ranger Luke D. Nihart
was killed early on Saturday, June 26, in an ATV accident while
working at the park. Nihart, 32, of rural St. George, was working
through the night at the park, which was full of campers attending
the four-day Country Stampede music concert event.
Nihart had been with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
for 10 years, starting at with a short stint at El Dorado State
Park. He spent most of his career as a park ranger at Tuttle Creek
State Park, near Manhattan. He was awarded the Kansas Department
of Wildlife and Parks Award of Valor in 2005 for his role in a
harrowing midnight rescue of stranded boaters on Tuttle Creek
Reservoir during a severe storm. Nihart also received the Kansas
Recreation and Parks Service Award in 2003 and 2004. He started
the annual Youth and Disabled Spring Turkey Hunts at Tuttle Creek
State Park, passing on his love for the outdoors. He married Keri
Lynn Herrman on April 26, 2003, and they had two children, Hunter
and Brooke.
All KDWP staff, and anyone who enjoyed Kansas state parks and the
outdoors will miss Luke. He exemplified what a park ranger should
be, working long hours to ensure park visitors were safe and
enjoying their stay and willingly risking his own life to save
others.
Funeral services for Luke will be held at 11:00 a.m., Thursday,
July 1, 2010 at the Wamego Sports Complex, Highway 24 and
Columbian Road just West of Wamego. Luke will lie in-state
beginning at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday at the Stewart Funeral Home,
where the family will greet friends during a visitation from 7:00
p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Burial will follow in Admantha Cemetery,
south of Westmoreland. Memorials are suggested to the Nihart
Children Education Fund, and may be left in care of the Stewart
Funeral Home, P.O. Box 48, 66547.
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