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Kenneth Dekker Obituary
Kenneth Lee Dekker
Kenneth Lee Dekker, 80, died Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, among loving family.
Ken, an electrical engineer and salesman, was born Dec. 30, 1941, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to Georgana Swenson and Peter Gerrit Dekker. He was the eldest of three children with younger sisters Annette and Eileen.
He grew up in Sheboygan and graduated from Central Sheboygan High School in 1960.
He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a senior there when he married Susan Ann Mahar on Aug. 29, 1964.
He moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and earned an engineering degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1976.
After completing the Allen-Bradley sales training program, in 1977 he moved to San Antonio, Texas, with his wife Sue, and sons Michael and Timothy, and daughter Kathryn (Katie).
Ken was employed with the Allen-Bradley factory automation equipment company (later a branch of General Dynamics, TDK and Rockwell International) for the better part of 30 years.
In 1989, Ken moved to Orlando, Florida, to manage a magnetics manufacturing company, Addams Magnetics. Within two years, he turned the facility from being $800,000 in deficit to more than $1 million in profit.
Ken later lived in Huntington Beach, California, and Carrollton, Texas, before retiring in Oklahoma City.
After retiring, Ken spent several years helping to mentor young business professionals through the Oklahoma City branch of the nonprofit SCORE program.
On Aug. 9, 2008, Ken married Linda Lou Ward Volz. They spent many happy years together enjoying bridge – where they met – going to casinos, gardening, cooking and watching "Judge Judy" and game shows. Ken served as president of the Sooner Unit of the American Contract Bridge League.
Ken loved spending time with his family, and at Christmas time, would come up with creative games that the entire family loved year after year.
He also loved both playing and watching golf and tennis; and was an avid Green Bay Packers football, and Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs basketball fan.
Ken loved spending mornings with his coffee and the newspaper on the back patio, and doting on his beloved cats: Growltiger, Beatrice Gale, Lily Lou and Roland.
Ken was smart, funny, generous, loving, and a good cook.
But most of all, Ken was a great father, brother, uncle, grandfather, husband and person.
He was preceded in death by his parents, former in-laws Earl and Florence Mahar, and brother-in-law, Jim Intravaia.
Survivors include his wife, Linda of 14 years; sisters Annette Dekker Intravaia, and Eileen Dekker Kotecki and her husband, Dennis; former wife Susan of 33 years; sons Michael Dekker, and Timothy (Tim) Dekker and his wife, Rebekah; and daughter Kathryn (Katie) Davis and her husband, Tracy; grandchildren Timothy, Connor and Kathleen Dekker, and Bailey Davis; and nieces, nephews and cousins.
Memorial contributions can be made to Free to Live Animal Sanctuary, 9150 S. Western Ave., Guthrie, Oklahoma, 73044; www.freetoliveok.org.
A memorial service was held Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, at Smith & Kernke Funeral Home in Oklahoma City.
A link for Ken's service can be found at https://bit.ly/KenDekker.
Kenneth Lee Dekker, 80, died Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, among loving family.
Ken, an electrical engineer and salesman, was born Dec. 30, 1941, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to Georgana Swenson and Peter Gerrit Dekker. He was the eldest of three children with younger sisters Annette and Eileen.
He grew up in Sheboygan and graduated from Central Sheboygan High School in 1960.
He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a senior there when he married Susan Ann Mahar on Aug. 29, 1964.
He moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and earned an engineering degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1976.
After completing the Allen-Bradley sales training program, in 1977 he moved to San Antonio, Texas, with his wife Sue, and sons Michael and Timothy, and daughter Kathryn (Katie).
Ken was employed with the Allen-Bradley factory automation equipment company (later a branch of General Dynamics, TDK and Rockwell International) for the better part of 30 years.
In 1989, Ken moved to Orlando, Florida, to manage a magnetics manufacturing company, Addams Magnetics. Within two years, he turned the facility from being $800,000 in deficit to more than $1 million in profit.
Ken later lived in Huntington Beach, California, and Carrollton, Texas, before retiring in Oklahoma City.
After retiring, Ken spent several years helping to mentor young business professionals through the Oklahoma City branch of the nonprofit SCORE program.
On Aug. 9, 2008, Ken married Linda Lou Ward Volz. They spent many happy years together enjoying bridge – where they met – going to casinos, gardening, cooking and watching "Judge Judy" and game shows. Ken served as president of the Sooner Unit of the American Contract Bridge League.
Ken loved spending time with his family, and at Christmas time, would come up with creative games that the entire family loved year after year.
He also loved both playing and watching golf and tennis; and was an avid Green Bay Packers football, and Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs basketball fan.
Ken loved spending mornings with his coffee and the newspaper on the back patio, and doting on his beloved cats: Growltiger, Beatrice Gale, Lily Lou and Roland.
Ken was smart, funny, generous, loving, and a good cook.
But most of all, Ken was a great father, brother, uncle, grandfather, husband and person.
He was preceded in death by his parents, former in-laws Earl and Florence Mahar, and brother-in-law, Jim Intravaia.
Survivors include his wife, Linda of 14 years; sisters Annette Dekker Intravaia, and Eileen Dekker Kotecki and her husband, Dennis; former wife Susan of 33 years; sons Michael Dekker, and Timothy (Tim) Dekker and his wife, Rebekah; and daughter Kathryn (Katie) Davis and her husband, Tracy; grandchildren Timothy, Connor and Kathleen Dekker, and Bailey Davis; and nieces, nephews and cousins.
Memorial contributions can be made to Free to Live Animal Sanctuary, 9150 S. Western Ave., Guthrie, Oklahoma, 73044; www.freetoliveok.org.
A memorial service was held Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, at Smith & Kernke Funeral Home in Oklahoma City.
A link for Ken's service can be found at https://bit.ly/KenDekker.
Published by Tulsa World on Nov. 13, 2022.
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