Ken is survived by his wife, Shirley: daughter, Lynne; son, Keith (Linda); grandchildren, Connor McKenzie, Ava McKenzie, and Cassy Davidson; sister-in-law, Maxine Brown and numerous nieces and nephews whom he loved.
Ken was born June 1, 1932 at the Tripler General Hospital, Honolulu Hawaii to James and Bernice (Cobb) McKenzie. As a military family the McKenzies moved many times and he enjoyed telling stories about their adventures.
His family was stationed in Hawaii on December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked. In the spring of 1943 Ken and his mother traveled back to live with his grandparents in Gibson County, Tennessee. Shortly before his 10th birthday Ken contracted polio and spent a year in isolation at the old John Gaston Hospital in Memphis. Throughout his life he considered a paralyzed leg a small abstraction to work around and there was little that he wouldn’t try.
Growing up in East Memphis, Ken had a wonderful youth attending the Normal School located on the grounds of Memphis State, now the University of Memphis. He graduated from Messick High where he played trumpet in the High School band. He attended the University of TN, Knoxville, and graduated from Memphis State with BS, BBA and MBA degrees.
He married Shirley Cartwright in Memphis and they shared a life-long love of music and water sports, often spending their vacations at Norfork Lake in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Boating and scuba diving was one of Ken’s passions and he was never happier than when swimming and snorkeling.
When the Schering Pharmaceutical Corp merged with the local company of Plough, Inc. the family transferred to central New Jersey. Both creative thinking and analytical skills enabled him to develop and implement a world-wide financial reporting system for his company.
When Ken and Shirley retired in the late 1990s they returned to Germantown to enjoy entertaining out of town family, since he was unable to travel. Ken especially loved his adopted city and never tired of its beauty.
From the beginning of Ken’s illness his devoted companion has been Sandra Shook who is loved by all our family and to whom we are very grateful. We cannot express enough thanks for the loving services of the Methodist Healthcare Hospice team who treated Ken with skill and compassion and supported our family in so many ways during his illness.
He is forever in our hearts.
The family will receive friends on Saturday August 28th, 2021 from 12:30 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. at Family Funeral Care, 4925 Summer Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee. Interment services will be private family only.
In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Mr. McKenzie may be offered to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.FamilyFuneralMemphis.com for the McKenzie family.
