Kenneth L. Jansen, 88, of Madison, lived this life with fullness and dignity. He passed away peacefully on Feb. 14 in Chester. He was born in Oneonta, New York, on March 6, 1927, the son of the late John and Edna (Keeler) Jansen.

Kenneth served in the U.S. Army Air Corps/Army Air Force in the 509th Bomb Division in the Pacific Theater in WWII. After the war he attended Cornell University, where he graduated in 1951 as a mechanical engineer.

He leaves behind his four children, Deborah MacKinnon and her husband Richard of Belfast, Maine; Mary Lou Fusi of Madison; David Jansen of St. Petersburg, Florida; and Sarah Jansen of Chester. He also leaves behind four grandchildren, Luca and John Fusi; Brittany Bodager (husband Paul and great-granddaughter Ellie); and Benjamin Howell. Kenneth was predeceased by his older brother Donald L. Jansen.

His lifelong interests included service to his community. He was one of the original founders of the Madison Land Trust, which pre-emptively saved many wetlands and salt marshes on the Connecticut Shoreline. He was chairman of the Connecticut Association of Land Trusts and Conservation Commission for the State of Connecticut. His volunteer service included fundraising for the American Cancer Society in the 1960’s. He was a longtime member of the Madison Republican Town Committee, and served on the Conservation Commission and the Board of Assessment Appeals. He was also a police commissioner for the Town of Madison.

He will be remembered and missed as a great father to his children, always finding the time to talk to solution.

He will rest in the Garrett Mandeville Dutch Reformed Cemetery in Caroline, near Ithaca, New York, where services will follow in April 2016. Friends are invited to a local Remembrance Memorial Service at Living Rock Church, 248 Rte. 81, Killingworth, at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 20; a reception will follow with coffee and dessert. Arrangements in care of the Guilford Funeral Home, 115 Church St., Guilford. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in loving memory of Kenneth L. Jansen to a charity of one’s choice. To share a memory or leave a message of condolence for the family, please visit www.GuilfordFuneralHome.com.