Newspaperman, preacher and longtime Spring Hope community leader Ken Ripley died Saturday morning due to complications from congestive heart failure. He was 75.
Robert Kenyon “Ken” Ripley owned and operated the Spring Hope Enterprise for 43 years, reporting local news in southern Nash County and advocating for civic change in fiery editorials and columns. The newspaper was his life’s work, said wife Vickie Ripley.
“I think he would want to be remembered for being a good journalist,” she said. “Ken was very active in the community. He believed in Spring Hope. He wanted to see it thrive and grow. He wanted to see transparency in the local governments. He was a journalist through and through, and that is what he wanted.”
Born Aug. 3, 1950, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Ripley developed an interest in creative writing in sixth grade and started studying journalism in high school. He and Vickie met while attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and married after graduating in 1972.
Ripley took a job at the Spring Hope Enterprise in 1975, leading the newspaper to 79 awards in the North Carolina Press Association’s annual journalism contests before The Wilson Times Co., now Restoration NewsMedia, purchased The Enterprise in 2018. As editor and publisher emeritus, Ripley continued writing columns and remained active in Spring Hope.