Kenneth Henry Western

Kenneth Henry Western, who spent almost his entire life in Denver and really was there ""at the beginning"" of the computer age, passed away on Nov. 30, 2015. He was 91. Burial will be at Fort Logan Cemetery on Monday, December 7th. Ken is survived by his loving wife Martha and their five children, Ken Jr. (Janice), Kathy (Jean) Rasor, Steve (Kelly), Janice (Robert) Gaccione and Linda (Rand) Nedved, and his sister Joyce (Joseph) Chern and brother Raymond (Margo). Ken was a devoted husband and father with a wry sense of humor that made family meals for his children and their friends entertaining occasions. He and Martha were married for 64 years, having met in the youth group at First Baptist Church. They were married on June 9, 1951 in a small ceremony with few frills in the parlor at First Baptist, which reflected both their frugality and lack of money at the time. Ken and Martha always ensured that their children grew up in a safe and loving environment. Ken worked for 32 years at what was originally the Air Force Finance Center at 3800 York Street in Denver. During the last few years of his career, Ken worked under FLITE (Federal Legal Information Thru Electronics), which reported to the Air Force Judge Advocate in Washington, D.C. Early in his career, Ken learned to program the UNIVAC I computer, which was made by Remington Rand and was the first American business computer. Over the years Ken worked as a systems analyst and supervisor, working on various projects to set up pay systems for the Air Force and retrieval systems for legal information. The projects served the Department of Defense and other government departments, the Supreme Court and the White House. Ken often talked about the people he worked with, carpooling with some of them and getting together with ""the boys"" several times a year to play poker. Ken served three years with the Army Air Force during World War II. When the war ended, Ken returned to Denver to complete his bachelor's degree in geological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines in 1949. He was awarded an MBA in 1951 by the University of Denver. Ken was born on Aug. 25, 1924 in the small town of Nelson in Wales. The coal-mining area is north of Cardiff and Ken had the opportunity to visit his birthplace on a trip to England in 1979 with Martha and his brother and sister, Ray and Joyce. When he was born, Ken's birth was registered at the American Embassy in Cardiff as a U.S. citizen. His father, Henry, was from Bradninch, Devonshire in England and his mother, Kate, grew up in England and Wales. Ken mostly grew up in the Washington Park and Cherry Creek/Country Club areas of Denver, where his father worked mainly as a gardener and florist. Ken spent almost his entire life in Denver, except for his service with the Army Air Force. He attended First Baptist Church as a child and then University Hills Baptist Church when he and Martha were raising their young family. As a child, Ken had many adventures with brother Ray and sister Joyce, riding bikes and having picnics at City and Washington parks. They swam in the big lake in Washington Park with a beach and three-story diving tower until it was closed. They dug holes and built forts in vacant lots, played football and softball in those same lots and chased each other through the greenhouses where their dad worked. The family spent parts of many glorious summers at the ""Scrub Oak"" cabin owned by a family friend at Palmer Lake. There, they fished, swam and hiked Chautauqua Mountain and Elephant Rock. The Fourth of July was always celebrated in great style by buying sacks of fireworks at discount stores, which led to blowing tin cans sky high by putting cherry bombs under them and blasting rocks into the air out of toy canons made from pipes. One of Ken's favorite memories as a child was racing around the grounds of the Denver mansion where his dad was the live-in gardener. When the owners left for Florida in the winter. the kids ice skated on the ponds and went sledding on the hills. Ken was active in the Boy Scouts, becoming an Eagle Scout and later teaching mineralogy and leading camping trips at Campa Tahosa near Ward, Colo. Ken attended Bromwell Elementary, Morey Junior High and South High schools. Ken enjoyed watching the Denver Broncos on television and took his children to a number of sporting events, including Colorado School of Mines football and basketball games, University of Denver basketball games and to DC Truckers basketball games when Denver didn't have a big league basketball team. Ken and Martha centered their lives on their children and, after they saved up enough for a down payment on their first house, raised their children in just two houses in southeast Denver. Please share your memories of Ken and condolences with his family by signing the guestbook below.