Following their weddings in 1960, Ken and Jean briefly lived in one of the two units at 3306 White Avenue in Baltimore; Jean’s parents occupied the other unit. It was also during this period that real estate developer Leon Panitz was building Joppatowne, a planned community in Harford County, Maryland. Panitz approached teachers in Baltimore County as prospective homeowners, and Ken and Jean Bourn decided to buy a house in Joppatowne at 820 Bradley Road. They remained in Joppatowne until 1998.

It was during their years in Joppatowne that Ken and Jean had their three children: Marcia (in 1964), Rod (in 1966), and Drew (in 1970). It was also during these years that Ken’s parents passed away: first his father Ken Bourn, Sr. (in 1967), and later his mother Frances (in 1990).

With the birth of their children, Ken and Jean sought a church for the family to attend and settled on the Towson Unitarian Universalist Church. There, the Bourns met other members of the congregation with whom they became close friends, including Laurie and Ron Davis, Joan and George Evans, Dean and Nancy Reger, Carol and Lou Maccini, and many others. Ken’s participation in the church included active support of the high school youth group.

Since their weddings Ken and Jean had followed Jean’s suggestion of vacationing at the beach resort of Wildwood, New Jersey. With the birth of their first child, Ken suggested that they instead vacation in Western Maryland, which he felt was more like New England. Jean selected Arrowhead Resort on Deep Creek Lake for vacation rentals, where they vacationed for some summers before Jean considered buying a house there. Ken and Jean then met other vacationers at Deep Creek who were from Pittsburgh, where entrepreneur JW Ruby was promoting Alpine Lake, a vacation resort in West Virginia, not far from Deep Creek Lake. Lots at Alpine couldn’t be purchased unless water and sewage had already been installed, whereas at Deep Creek Lake homeowners were responsible for digging their own wells and septic tanks. These considerations, in addition to Ruby’s business history, impressed Ken with the desirability of Alpine Lake. He and Jean purchased a lot and built a two-storey vacation home named “Highlander” in honor of the Scottish heritage that Ken claimed. In the succeeding years, many of Ken and Jean’s friends and relatives also bought lots and built houses at Alpine.