Wilson Kipkemboi Rono
Premium memorial FeaturedLovingly known as “Mzee Wilson”
1 June 1946 — 2 October 2020 · aged 74
Kitale maize and dairy farmer, church elder, and the man who timed his children to school
Kitale, Kenya Born in Cherangany, Trans Nzoia County Resting at Family farm, Cherangany, Trans Nzoia CountyAbout Wilson
Wilson Rono read the sky the way other men read newspapers. He would stand at the edge of his maize at half past four every morning with a gourd of mursik in his hand, sniff the air, and announce whether the neighbours should plant that week or wait, and for forty years nearly all of them did as he said. He was usually right. He was born in 1946 at Cherangany, the son of a farm labourer who dreamed of owning the soil he had spent his life clearing for someone else.
Wilson made the dream real. After Kapsabet Boys High School he worked as an agricultural assistant for the Kenya Farmers Association, saving every pay packet until, in 1971, he and two brothers bought twenty-two acres outside Kitale. He planted hybrid maize, then wheat, then a herd of Friesian cows that he named after his aunts, who were not informed. He sold milk at dawn and never missed a school-fee deadline for any of his seven children. His maize won the Kitale Agricultural Show cup four times; the cup stood on his television, and visitors who failed to admire it were not offered tea.
He married Priscilla Jepchirchir in 1973, and for forty-seven years she kept the farm's accounts while he took the credit, a division of labour both of them found reasonable. An elder at AIC Kitale Central, he sang bass, tithed in maize, and lent his tractor to any neighbour whose field was drying out. On school mornings he stood at the gate with a stopwatch and timed his children over the four kilometres to the road, a habit that, his family says, eventually produced a runner.
Wilson died at home in October 2020 after a short illness, with the Kitale rains arriving on schedule outside the window. He leaves Priscilla, seven children and twenty-three grandchildren.
“The land listens to whoever shows up before dawn.”
- Faith
- Christian
- Place of birth
- Cherangany, Trans Nzoia County
- Resting place
- Family farm, Cherangany, Trans Nzoia County
- Passed away
- 2 October 2020, Kitale
Funeral Service
Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 09:00 UTC
Add to calendarLife journey
Kapsabet Boys High School
Kapsabet Boys High School1961 – 1964 · Kapsabet
Studied agriculture and hid a passion for athletics.
Agricultural Assistant
Kenya Farmers Association1966 – 1978 · Kitale
Advised smallholders on hybrid maize and dairy.
Bought twenty-two acres near Kitale
1971 · Kitale
Purchased with two brothers; he later bought them out.
Married Priscilla Jepchirchir
1973 · Kitale
Forty-seven years of shared accounts and shared credit.
Maize, wheat and dairy farmer
Rono Family Farm1978 – 2020 · Kitale
Won the Kitale Agricultural Show maize cup four times.
Church elder
AIC Kitale Central1985 – 2020 · Kitale
Sang bass, tithed in maize, and lent out his tractor.
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Family & connections
Also remembered on Evermore
Wilson is survived by
- Priscilla Jepchirchir Rono· Spouse
- Collins Kibet Rono· Son
- Sharon Chepkoech Rono· Daughter
- Brian Kiprono Rono· Son
- 23 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Wilson.
Knew Wilson? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- SR
Dad, it has been six years and I still hear you counting the seconds at the gate. Thank you for every early morning.
- DK
Nephew, Calgary
Uncle Wilson took in three of us cousins for school terms when our parents could not pay. He never counted the cost, only the marks. I am a petroleum engineer now, and I owe the first line on my CV to a farmer with a stopwatch.
- CR
Son
Dad gave me my first stopwatch when I was nine and told me, 'The clock does not lie, so you do not have to either.' I still hear that at every start line. I want to make every child I coach as sure of themselves as he made me.
- MW
Neighbour and friend
Our families farmed side by side for forty-five years. Wilson and my late husband quarrelled over a fence in 1980, shared a goat in 1981, and never mentioned the fence again. He was the best kind of neighbour, one who forgets quickly and helps first.
- SK
Pastor, AIC Kitale Central
Wilson tithed every season in maize and always the best cobs. When I teased him about it, he said God did not accept second-grade harvest. The church store was never empty because of him, and the poor of Kitale ate well through every dry year.
- KC
Neighbouring farmer in Cherangany
In 1992 my maize failed and I had no seed for the long rains. Mzee Wilson drove up with two sacks of his best, saying, 'You will pay me when you can.' He never asked. In 1998 I handed him ten sacks, and he blessed them like a pastor.
