Woodsboro remembers longtime Trout's Market employee Kenny West

Aug. 1—Every morning, when Kenny West arrived for work at Trout's Market in Woodsboro, he'd open the newspaper.

John Trout Jr., whose family owns the store, remembers it clearly. West would scan a page and mutter something to himself. Then he'd close the paper and head back to his job in the deli.

When Trout finally asked about the habit, West told him matter-of-factly that he was checking the obituaries.

"If my name's in there, I'm not working today," West told Trout. "I ain't cutting no more meat."

West, whom family and coworkers remember as a hardworking and kind-hearted lover of bingo, motorsports and grass-mowing, died last month after more than 25 years anchoring Woodsboro's only grocery store. He was 75.

On his first day in the store without West, Trout knew exactly what to do.

"I went in there, opened up the newspaper, and looked at his obituary," Trout said. "And I said, 'Kenny, you don't have to cut meat today.'"

It was hard to keep West — who worked as a meat cutter for 52 years — away from the market even as his health declined, said Trout and others who worked with him. Most weeks, he'd forego a day off. For a time, he had trouble breathing during his shifts and struggling with heavy lifting more than usual — only to casually mention a couple of weeks later that he'd broken his hip.

"He was a good man," said his daughter, Holly Harris. "He'd pretty much do anything for anybody."

When pandemic-induced panic buying began and the store "couldn't keep meat in the case," Trout's employee Denise Cook said West worked long hours and often stayed into the night. Store managers tried to let younger employees shoulder some of the burden, but "Kenny wanted all the hours," Trout said.

He'd teach anyone who wanted to know the technique of meat cutting, Cook added. And he'd keep his coworkers entertained with jokes, workplace gripes and detailed stories about his vacations.

In a town with a population of less than 1,500 people, West's presence behind the meat counter became expected and his face became familiar, his coworkers said. He'd stand atop the market's float in the annual Memorial Day parade down Main Street. He knew many customers' orders by heart — who needed chicken necks for crabbing bait, who needed hamburger meat for their restaurant.

"He'd done that for so long that there wasn't any thought to it," Trout said.

When West wasn't working, he liked playing bingo at local American Legion posts, watching the Washington Redskins play football and spending time with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, his daughter said.

He loved to mow the grass, Holly added with a laugh. No one else did quite as neat of a job.

And he really, really loved his wife, Mitzi. She worked at the liquor store down the street from Trout's. Most nights, when West finished his shift, he'd head down there and just sit with her.

"They were like two peas in a pod," said Woodsboro Liquors manager Rick Sweadner. "If she was here, at some point in time he was gonna be here."

Mitzi died about a month before West.

Nearly 500 people responded when Trout's Market shared news of West's death on its Facebook page, flooding the comments with condolences.

"RIP Kenny," one commenter wrote. "You are with your love now."

Follow Jillian Atelsek on Twitter: @jillian_atelsek