Kenneth D. Weaver's Obituary
Kenneth Dewey Weaver passed away peacefully on March 11, 2021 in Lewisville, Texas at the age of 96. Born December 20, 1924 in Decatur, Nebraska to Claude and Esther (Collins) Weaver, he was the first of their three children. His sister Ruth was born in 1927, followed by Mary in 1932. At the age of 3, his family moved to a farm near Batesland, South Dakota, located on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation of the Oglala Lakota tribe. He grew up working on this farm during those hard years of the great depression. He attended nearby Batesland High School and graduated in 1942. The outbreak of war that year suddenly created a critical shortage of food and skilled farm workers. Kenneth remained on the farm during the war years to help keep their farm producing.
With the war ending in 1945, Kenneth was finally able to pursue his dreams of a college education. He first attended Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, only 30 miles from his birthplace, and graduated in 1949 with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. Following his graduation, he moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma to attend Oklahoma State University which was then called Oklahoma A&M. For the next two years, Kenneth worked towards a Master’s degree in Mathematics while living on a small stipend as a teaching assistant. One night in 1950, he attended an off-campus dance where he met Helen Mildred Pearson, whose family owned a farm near the campus. She had graduated a few years earlier with a degree in art and was working as the society editor for the local newspaper. That night, Kenneth met the love of his life. They continued dating until just before his graduation when they married on October 7, 1951 in Stillwater.
The newlyweds moved to Grand Prairie, Texas where Kenneth was employed as an engineer with a large aerospace company. About two years later, the company assigned him to a newly-formed computing group because of his mathematics background. This move fortuitously began his career in the burgeoning field of computing services that would last throughout his life. While living and working in Grand Prairie, the couple had two children. Patricia was born in 1953 and Cheryl in1955.
In November 1964, the family moved to Phoenix where Ken had taken a job with a large engineering company. He only stayed with this company about eight months, before moving to Los Angeles where he was employed to work in the branch office of the Dallas-based University Computing Company (UCC). In July 1968, the company transferred him back to Dallas where he worked in the Computing Services Division of UCC until his retirement in 1992. He held numerous technical and support positions during those years and was highly talented in the computing technology of the day.
True to his rural upbringing, he applied a quiet diligence and an unswerving persistence to all his endeavors. As a result, he acquired the skills and practical knowhow of his trade through long hours of hard work. During his career, he watched computing technology change from its primitive beginnings in the 1950s to a complex worldwide, networked system. It was an extraordinary era and he was a part of it. He was a credit to his profession.
Kenneth was a loving husband and father, a true friend, and a brilliant software and systems engineer. He was a gentle soul who was always polite and helpful to others. He lived a long and productive life while always caring for his family and helping others. Helen, his beloved wife of 57 years, passed away in June of 2008. In 2016, Kenneth moved to a senior living center in Lewisville, leaving behind the home he had known
for over 48 years.
He is preceded in death by both his parents and two sisters. He is survived by his eldest daughter, Pat Pinney and son-in-law Bill Pinney; granddaughter Laura Traynham; grandson Robert Traynham and his wife Lucy Traynham; great grandson Ashton Traynham; daughter, Cheryl Janes and son-in-law Ray Janes; granddaughter Katie Freeman and her husband Blake Freeman; granddaughter Rachel Janes;
niece Kathy Bielas and husband Mike Bielas; nephew Glen Locke and his wife Tamara Locke; niece Beth Burkhart and husband Richard Burkhart; great niece Christy Jarman; grandnephew Ethan Locke; grandnephew Robert Burkhart; great niece Jenni Merrifield; great-great grandnephews are Connor Jarman, Oliver Wheeldon, Cornelius Wheeldon; great-great niece is Chickory Wheeldon.
A celebration of life will be held at 2:00pm Thursday, March 25, 2021 at the Wildwood Chapel in Restland Cemetery.
The viewing will take place at 1 p.m. at Restland’s main building.
Burial: Chapel Gardens Mausoleum
You may join us via livestream by clicking the link below http://webcast.funeralvue.com/events/viewer/50746.
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