Kennard Powell Black Jr.

Kennard “Ken” Powell Black Jr, 68, passed away peacefully surrounded with love on Wednesday, July 13, 2022 after a long struggle with complications from Type 2 Diabetes.

Ken was born June 1, 1954 in Salt Lake City, UT, the son of Kennard and Jean (Larsen) Black. After a short two years in Utah, the family moved and settled in Scottsdale, AZ. Growing up with his two younger siblings, Kerri and Ron, Ken enjoyed a childhood filled with trips up north to their Lakeside, AZ White Mountains home, canvassing Arizona landscape for obsidian and petrified wood, collecting comic books, playing basketball and building model rockets.

Ken attended and graduated from Scottsdale High School, and he will tell you that it was THE best high school in Scottsdale. So good in fact that they had to tear it down to give a fair chance to the rest of the high schools in the area. This always went over well with his wife and children that all graduated from Coronado High School, a rival of Scottsdale High. Ken, or Kenny as his friends knew him, was a member of the high school band playing the clarinet and enjoyed playing in the school musicals. The Scottsdale High presentation of “The Music Man” apparently was one that was deserving of a Tony. In reading the signatures of his yearbook his friends would describe him as “so funny”, “smartest in the class”, “so tall”, and a few things that may not be appropriate for an obituary.

After graduation, Ken served a two-year mission for the LDS church in the Greater Oregon Mission. At one point he was in Portland and referred to his Southwest Westslope address as ‘Wetslop’ because Arizona boys didn’t appreciate the constant rain. He spoke of the friends he made and the beauty of the area often. It was definitely a huge impact in his life.

Once home from his mission, he joined a choir with single adults in the church. Ken was still the goofy jokester that was known and loved in high school and would often be the reason the choir instructor would have to stop rehearsal. One day, he got the death glare from a 5’6” blond with the most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen. Ken fell immediately in love with Debra “Debi” Lynn Kennelly of Scottsdale, AZ. After three months of courtship, they were married on December 17, 1976.

During the early years of marriage, Ken joined toastmasters and made lifelong friends there; he worked in masonry and would love to give you an Arizona tour of all the Circle K’s he once helped build or remodeled. His masonry skills came to use during a remodel of his Scottsdale home in 1993 where he and his father built a beautiful brick and stone fireplace for the family room. After masonry, he delivered ice cream for Dryers, which was one of his favorite jobs he had in those early days. He eventually landed in commercial real estate as a property and project manager.

In 1980, Ken and Debi welcomed their first child Heather. Followed by Jason in 1984, Hillary in 1985 and Kyle in 1989. His children will remember him for always having a dad joke handy, in fact they wonder if he was not the inventor of dad jokes. He loved his garden, and could grow anything as long as it was peppers, tomatoes or squash. He gave all four of his kids a true appreciation for music, specifically 70s classic rock and the 50 Guitars of Tommy Garrett. Ken could cook for an army and loved creating the heaviest pans of lasagna you could ever see, serving up pancakes & bacon at the park, and anything you could cover in cheese and hot sauce. He was an avid outdoors equipment collector including more cast iron skillets one person could ever use - let that thing season and never ever use soap.

In his later days, there was nothing Ken loved more than gathering with his four children, their spouses and grandchildren, watching them share stories and laugh together. If he could have Sunday Dinner every night of the week he would have. Nothing made his face light up more than when we stopped by to say hi or when the grandkids would share what they are learning in school. He loved to laugh at the cute things they would say and marveled at all of their many talents. He was incredibly proud of his family and his love was always present.

Ken is survived by his mother Jean L. Black, brother Ron Black, daughter Heather (Chris) Pace, son Jason (Lindsey) Black, daughter Hillary (John) Mineer, son Kyle Black, and ten grandchildren Riley, Blue, Emma, Gavin, Kenzie, Lily, Aubree, Cambria, Eli and Kyden. Ken is preceded in death by his father Kennard P. Black, sister Kerri Chesley, and the best two dogs a man could ever have, Molly and Sabi.

A memorial service for Kennard will be held Saturday, July 30, 2022 at 2:00pm at Shadow Mountain Mortuary, 2350 East Greenway Road, Phoenix, AZ 85022.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ShadowMountainMortuary.com for the Black family.