Biographies C
Kenneth O. Cayce
The Cayce-Yost Company has been doing business in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, for almost forty years. Kenneth O. Cayce has been with the company since 1909, and has been an active partner since 1920. From its small beginning in 1907 the company has grown until today it is the largest firm of its kind in Christian County. Before any company can command success there must be intelligence, business sense and merchandising ability. And when that success is steady and continued over a long period of years, there can be no doubt that those in charge of the affairs of the company also possess moral integrity and the desire to be of service to the public. These are the qualities which Delbert D. Cayce, one of the founders of the company, exemplified, and these are the qualities which make his sons, Kenneth O. Cayce, a worthy successor and capable business man.
When the F.A. Yost Company was first organized in 1907, the heads of the company were Delbert D. Cayce, Harry A. Yost, Frank Yost and George H. Yost. Two years later Kenneth Cayce became associated with the company. In 1917 the name of the firm was changed to Cayce-Yost Company, continuing under the same management. In 1927, twenty years after the Cayce-Yost Company started, Delbert D. Cayce bought the interests of Harry, Frank and George Yost and their places in the company partnership were taken by Kenneth and Delbert D. Cayce, Jr. That same year, 1927, Delbert D. Cayce, Sr., died and Kenneth O. Cayce was made President and General Manager of the Company.
Over a long period of years Kenneth Cayce has taken a leading part in the growth of the Cayce-Yost Company and the movement is still forward. In recent years a seed recleaning plant has been added, and a gift and silver department headed by Gordon Cayce has added to the scope of the company. Through all these years, Kenneth Cayce has shown those likeable qualities of friendliness and consideration that give personality to a business. He has grown up in the business, and he has kept pace with changes as they came. In 1943 the Kentucky Hardware and Implement Association elected Kenneth Cayce as their president, and that is an honor reserved for men who are looked up to by their fellow business men as leaders in their line. The business men of Hopkinsville hold Kenneth Cayce in equally high regard. The organization through which the business men and civic leaders do their “good works” is the Rotary Club, and under the presidency of Kenneth Cayce that organization hummed with activity.
Delbert D. Cayce, the father of Kenneth Cayce, was born in Christian County, Kentucky, in 1866. He died in 1927. The mother of Kenneth Cayce was Rebecca (Dillman) Cayce, who was born in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, in 1866, and died in 1942. The parents of Mr. Cayce are buried at Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
Kenneth Cayce was born in Christian County, Kentucky, on June 5, 1890. After graduation from South Kentucky College at Hopkinsville, he attended the University of Kentucky for one year, and then became associated with his father in the operation of the Cayce-Yost Company in 1909, just two years after the organization of the business. He has, therefore, been connected with the firm almost since its inception, and his opinions and ideas have had great weight in the business councils of the company. It cannot be truthfully said that Kenneth Cayce has watched the business grow; he has made it grow, and has been a driving force behind it which has developed the company to its present eminence in the field. Business was materially increased with the addition of the new departments, and the present volume of business is cause for satisfaction to all the members of the partnership which now forms the Cayce-Yost Company. Four partners are the children of Delbert Cayce: K.O. Cayce, Bertha Cayce, Gordon Cayce, and Mrs. Elizabeth Cayce Dalton, the other being Mrs. Kate Q. Cayce, wife of Kenneth O. Cayce.
In 1914, Kenneth Cayce married Kate Quarles. She was born in Christian County, Kentucky. They are the parents of three sons, who are all serving their country in the United States Navy. The oldest son, Frank Quarles Cayce, was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on July 4, 1915. He graduated from the Hopkinsville High School and Emory University of Atlanta, Georgia. In 1938 he established a clothing department in the Cayce-Yost store in Hopkinsville. Four years later, in 1942, Frank Cayce enlisted in the United States Navy as a yeoman. His wife is the former Madeleine Edwards of Clarksville, Tennessee, and he has one child, Katharine Tyler Cayce, who was born in Raleigh, North Caroline, on January 10, 1944.
Kenneth O. Cayce, Jr., was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky on October 7, 1920. After graduation from the Hopkinsville High School he attended Vanderbilt University, graduating in 1942, and was immediately commissioned in the United States Navy. At the present time he is serving in the navy with the rank of Lieutenant.
The youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth O. Cayce is Delbert D. Cayce, III. He was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky on October 28, 1924, and is a graduate of the Hopkinsville High School. He was a student at The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina at the time of his entry into the Navy in 1944, when he was inducted as a Seaman First Class.
Kenneth Cayce, Sr., is a member of the Ninth Street Christian Church in Hopkinsville and is Chairman of the Official Board and an Elder therein.
Source: Wallis, Frederick A., and Hambleton Tapp, eds. A Sesqui-Centennial History of Kentucky. Vol. 4. Hopkinsville, KY: Historical Record Association, 1945. Pages 2005-2006.
Updated July 6, 2018