David McKinley Elam was born on 4/13/1926 and was married on his birthday in 1948 to Margaret Mae Penn Elam, just short of 70 years ago. He died peacefully on 1/14/2018. David is pre-deceased by his parents McKinley and Nancy Beatty Elam, brother Joseph, and granddaughter Amy Lynn Daum. He is survived by his wife: Margaret, daughters: Jennifer Elam, Paula (Jerome) Lange, Mary Elam, and Margaret Cole. His grandchildren are: Nathan (Rachel) Lange, Andrew (Hollister) Lange, Leah Bishop, Emily (Aaron) Starr, Aaron Lange, Niklaus (Sally) Elam, Janet Daum, and Joseph Cole. His great grandchildren are: Brandon (Kelsey), Daniel, Kealie, Keenan, Morgan, McKinley Marie, and Lincoln David Lange, Tayler (Caleb) Summitt. Mikeila Nelson and Andrew Bishop are Leah’s children. His great great grandchild is Addilyn Rae Summitt.

David attended Russell Cave Elementary School, Lafayette High School, University of KY, and got an M.A. degree in Finance at age 55 from Lake Forest College in IL. During his young life, David farmed with his father on the Rosemound Dairy in Fayette County, KY on land that had been in his family since the 1790’s. He joined the Army Air Corps at age 17. After marrying Margaret, David farmed until moving to IL in 1964 to work for International Harvester. When the company shut down, he moved back to KY and worked for the University of KY in the Small Business Development Center. Since retirement, David has raised beef cattle on Rosemound Farm with his partner Ernesto Arroyo. David had many special interests such as learning about different cultures, reading (especially National Geographic), travel, politics, and business but his greatest passions were family, farming and geneology. He loved going back to Morgan County, KY to re-visit his roots. David is widely known for his honesty, integrity, keen intellect, commitment to serving others and his amazing memory for detail and story telling.

A celebration of David’s rich life will be held on Friday, 1/19/18, at 1:00 with visitation beginning at noon at the Johnson’s Funeral Home, 641 So. Broadway in Georgetown, KY. Following a brief burial at the graveside, all are invited to gather at the family home for food – 5051 Mt. Horeb Pike, Lexington, KY. Fayette County In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Farm Bureau Education Foundation, 1316 Versailles Rd, Lexington, KY 40504