Kenneth Sherril Walker was born December twenty-seventh nineteen thirty to Ishmael and Elloene Haycock Walker in Union Utah. Ken passed away at the age of eighty-nine in his home in West Jordan Utah on Tuesday, March seventeenth two thousand twenty.
Ken was born during the great depression and the events that happened during this time would shape him into the man that he became. Times were tough, but his family stuck together and took care of each other. Kenneth often talked about how all they had to eat most days was milk and bread, he must have grown to like it though, because even as an adult his go-to breakfast was a bowl of cold milk and bread. Kenneth always had a story and a lesson to share. One of his favorite stories from this time was the one where he learned the tough way that it pays to get up early. He was always the last of his siblings to get up in the morning. This usually worked out for Ken, but one day he was the very last to get up and all of his other siblings had gotten ready for school and the only pair of shoes left was his sister's patten leather shoes that were two sizes too small for him. They were the only pair of shoes left so he had to wear them to school all day. After that Ken made sure that he was always the first one up and this life lesson eventually lead to the saying, “First up, best dressed”. As Ken grew older, he worked with his father as a framer and a stonemason and learned other skills that Ken would use for the rest of his life.
Shortly After graduating from school Ken married Alice and they had 3 children: Ronald, Pamela and Karyn. While Ken and Alice raised their children, Ken picked up a second job at the Kennecott Copper Mine driving train cars. In nineteen eighty-five Ken’s wife Alice tragically passed away. This was a tough time for Ken and his family. Ken eventually found love again and married Rita in nineteen eighty-eight and became the stepfather to Rita’s four daughters Ronda, Cari, Paula, and Cidney.
After working at Kennecott for thirty-three years Ken finally retired but doing nothing in retirement was not an option for Ken. While Ken was retired, he still did work throughout the Salt Lake Valley as a stonemason. He also bought a farm in Myton, Utah and built a cabin on the land by himself. This became one of his favorite places to go and he spent tons of time there with his brothers Lynn and Jack, his friends Emryn and Archie as well as the rest of his family. The rest of Ken’s retirement was spent doing the things he loved like gardening (his grandkids never had to buy pumpkins on Halloween and Rita always had fresh off the vine tomatoes), taking care of his animals, fishing, camping, and passing down his knowledge and telling his stories to his grandchildren.
Ken was one of a kind. Family was paramount to Ken. He would do anything for anyone, he was the person everyone turned to when they needed a helping hand. It didn’t matter what you needed help with, Ken would give the shirt off his back to make sure his family didn’t go without.
Ken will be missed dearly by his family. We will miss his stories, his jokes and the good times we had with him, but we are so grateful for the time that we were able to spend with him, for all the memories, and all the stories.
Ken is preceded in death by his parents Ishmael and Elloene, first wife Alice, wife Rita, two brothers Lynn and Le Roy, and four sisters Faye, Inez, Mildred, and Alice. He is survived by his daughters Ronda, Cari, Paula, Cidney, Pam and Karyn, son Ronald, Brother Jack, sisters Rosemary and Judy, seventeen grandkids and eleven great grandkids.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, April 1st, 2020, at Mountain View Memorial Cemetery, 3115 Bengal Blvd, Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121. Due to current gathering restrictions to minimize illness exposure services will be a private family graveside service.
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