Kimmel Arnold Fletcher

Renegade Kimmel Arnold Fletcher, also known to friends as “Kim, “Fletch”

and “Fletcher,” age 79, of Whitesboro, Texas passed away in his home with

family on August 27, 2022.

Kim was born a wildcard and poet on April 15, 1943 to Arnold B. and

Mildred Fletcher in Hannibal, Missouri. He was the oldest of 3 siblings.

Kim graduated from Lincoln High School in Des Moines, Iowa in 1961.

Kim began his entrepreneurial spirit in the transportation business as a young

man, with the family business, SMB Stage Lines. He married Maureen “Mimi”

Barrett with whom he had 3 children. Kim and Mimi moved their family to

San Antonio, where he established his own transportation business

contracting with the U.S. Post O­ffice, operating mail buses. Kim and his

family returned to Iowa for a few years before moving to Dallas

in 1976, where he founded KAFCO Trucking Corp. In 1977, he began a

longtime relationship between KAFCO and Land Air Express, becoming

an owner/operator for LAE with operations in Austin, Chicago, Denver,

DFW, Houston, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City and Tulsa before retiring from

the air freight/trucking world in 2009.

In the early 80’s, Kim purchased his farm in Whitesboro, spending much of his

time there long before he retired. He became a cattle rancher and later

established a hay business. You could usually ‑nd him in overalls, driving

around on some piece of farm equipment, or, sitting on his porch in a rocking

chair. He was a “trucker” at heart, a hardworking man who drove thousands

of miles that crisscrossed the continental U.S. If you were lucky, he would

show up on your doorstep, stay a few hours, share a joke and a good meal

before hitting the road. Kim traveled the world, was a pilot, enjoyed snow

skiing, hunting and ‑shing, especially the ‑shing trips to Canada with family

and friends.

Kim will be missed by his family, many friends and business associates.

He was a rolling stone who never met a stranger. If you could liken anyone to

Smokey and the Bandit, that would be him. Those who knew him well will

surely miss his rebellious nature and quick wit.

Kim is survived by his longtime partner, Cheryl Ann Smith, her daughters,

Rebekah Martin, Chris Sanders and Liz Dill; his daughters, Kelly Fletcher,

Tara Rike (husband, Tony), and son, Shawn Fletcher, sixteen grandchildren,

‑ve great-grandchildren; sister, Toni Kiesling, and brother, Mark (wife, TR)

Fletcher. He is preceded in death by his parents, grandson Brandon Fletcher,

niece Jenny Kiesling, brother-in-law Tom Kiesling and niece Stacy Sanders

Wrenn.