Kenneth D. Minyard

Ken was born in Portland, Oct 3, 1951 to Jay and Millie Minyard. His mother and her family migrated from Norway to Minnesota, finally settling in Sandy, OR where there is still a working road named Skogan Rd. Ken’s father, “A.J.” Minyard also migrated from Texas where he was born. A.J. enlisted in the WW11 military where he was assigned the name “Andrew Jackson” by the US Army because the military wouldn’t allow him to use his given name of A.J. to join the service.

As a child, Ken grew up in Sandy, OR where his family helped build Sandy Baptist Church. Ken, his brother Don and their parents enjoyed rural life, fishing, camping and playing sports in Boring, Oregon. Ken enjoyed Football, he was center lineman for the Sandy Pioneers in 1969 which was a winning season for Sandy High school.

In 1972 he married Gloriana York and they settled in Gresham, OR where they had two children, Craig and Tiffany. During the years of raising his young family, Ken loved taking vacations with them to Disneyland and Honeyman State Park.

Ken started working at PGE in 1972 and retired in 2020 after a long and successful career as a wireman Foreman. In Midlife he married Nancy Strande and they lived in Gresham, OR until his passing. During their marriage, Ken and Nancy took many trips to one of their favorite places, Hawaii.

Ken is survived by his two children Craig and Tiffany. Nancy’s son Nathan, a daughter in law Brooke along with two granddaughters, Pearl Magnolia and Calliope Bell. He was preceded in death by Nancy’s daughter Erica Strande, who passed in 2009

Known as a lover of sports, Literature and music. Ken was an ardent fan of music by John Prine. Without a doubt he will be sorely missed, but with much certainty, Ken is now sitting at a “Live” venue in Heaven listening to John sing “When I get to Heaven”.