Frederick Gene Eugene Ward

Frederick Eugene Ward, GeneOctober 27, 1927 - February 16, 2016Frederick Gene Ward was born October 27, 1927 in Oakland, California to Fred and Jenny Ward (Markley). He passed away on February 16, 2016, at age 88, at home with his wife Ann.His father had come out from Kentucky, and arrived in San Francisco the day after the big earthquake of 1906. He became a fireman, and was most often at the fire station. His mother was a twin; she lived her whole life in California, and her twin sister became a nun and lived most of her adult life in Louisiana. They were orphaned at an early age, and grew up with their aunt and uncle. When Gene was older, he used to tell his mom that if she had not been born a twin, she would have been 8 feet tall. Gene had an older sister, Virginia (Ginny) who was 11 years older than he.Gene loved adventure; he was wired for curiosity and experimentation. As a little boy, with a mom and older sister, and often absent father, he was on his own to discover his world. So, playing chemist with his sister's perfumes, he learned about new combinations, good and bad, and about the ire of women. Undaunted, he moved on to surgically removing squares of material from the middle of the formal gown his mom made for his sister, and learned about fabric; and more about the ire of women. Meanwhile his mom and sister learned about adding ruffles to salvage the gown. Some things he didn't learn too quickly. He also had a rabbit hutch with a friend down the street. They sometimes carried it back and forth between their houses; have rabbits will travel.During high school and college, Gene worked at a Chris's Hot Dogs, serving foot-long hot dogs.He joined the navy to see the world, and was stationed at Treasure Island, 20 miles from where he grew up, which meant he could still wash his clothes at home. And because of serving in the navy, he was able to go to college, Cal State Berkeley, where he earned a degree in electrical engineering, and could then be curious and experiment in ˜safer' places.Gene worked for Western Electric, an arm of AT&T, America's one and only phone company at the time. He went to New York for a 6-month training course in 1954, where he met Ann in her parent's restaurant, The Newport Inn, on a night she was tending bar while her brother-in-law, the regular bartender, was with his wife having their second child. There he courted Ann, while ingratiating himself with her parents by washing dishes, waiting tables, and happily eating every meal they offered. Gene met Ann in January; they married in May, and moved to Japan in June. Talk about whirlwind. If either of their daughters had tried such a thing, there would have been hell to pay.They stayed one year in Japan, and shortly after coming back to New York, their eldest daughter, Jeanette, was born. After 6 months in New York, Gene took a transfer to Texas (El Paso), and after 3 weeks in that lovely spot, they decided it wasn't for them, and got another transfer, to Oakland. They bought a house and settled in Santa Clara, about 30 minutes south of Oakland. Here their youngest daughter, Donna, was born. They lived in this house for 20 years, and then moved up the peninsula to Foster City for another 20+ years. They moved up to Tacoma, Washington to live near Jeanette and granddaughter Meagan for 7 years, and then moved to Longmont to be near Donna and son-in-law Mike, and granddaughters Oksana and Vika, where they have been for the past 8 years. Gene worked for Western Electric, AT&T (Ma Bell), Mel Labs, Moxon Electronics, Pac-Tel, and back to AT&T, where he retired in 1985. He worked as an electrical engineer, Salesman, and Sales Technical Support expert. He was often the ˜glue' between engineers, sales people, and customers. Gene loved God. He came to know Jesus as an adult, and grew in knowledge and generosity throughout his adult life.Gene was a member of Toastmasters for a long time. He was a good speaker, and loved to use his humor to make others laugh. Gene brought laughter and fun, and his sense of adventure, trying new things, and curiosity to those around him. He always had a new joke to tell, but his humor was more than just telling jokes. He was the person you wanted to sit next to at dinner, but away from at dessert, because he could always get you to look the other way while he took a bite of your dessert. A favorite game with the nieces at holiday dinners. Gene and Ann loved to have people over for dinner, and they all loved to come. Ann cooks like no other, and Gene loved to entertain. In this way, they have brought much joy and full bellies to many, many people. Gene taught us to love being athletic, to swim, water ski, do acrobatics, and be active “ he did this by loving being active himself, and by teaching us and playing with us. He had a black belt in Judo, and a brown belt in Aikido, and taught us some Aikido also. Gene loved fishing. He loved to hate it; we think he would have loved catching some too, but he hardly ever got to find out. Gene's luck with fish was in the extreme. When his good friend, Tad, a superb fisherman, heard that he had trouble catching fish, he volunteered to teach Gene to fish. The first time they went out together was the first time Tad didn't catch anything.Gene did a lot of ancestry work during his retirement. He was able to trace one of his parents back to the civil war, finding a few skeletons in the closet along the way. He also discovered that his family was more German than they previously thought.Gene loved his family “ once again surrounded by women, he taught us to believe we could do whatever we set out to do. He taught us, by his life, that it's ok to try new things, to change jobs and locations, to travel and have new experiences, new ideas, and to pursue new things. He was thrilled to have sons-in-law to even out the numbers a bit. But ¦ then ¦ all his grandchildren are women. We, Gene's family, the women and Mike, his beloved son-in-law, love him very much. We are glad he is out of pain and with our Lord, dancing like when he was young. We look forward to seeing him again some day.