Kenneth Hales

December 15th, 1934 - October 27th, 2021

Memorial

On October 27, 2021, Kenneth Adair Hales, wonderful father, grandfather, brother, and friend passed away at the age of 86. Ken was born on December 15, 1934 in the Bronx in New York City to Kenneth & Jean Hales. In his youth, Ken had many great experiences in Scouting, especially a trip to Philmont Scout Ranch. Between 1956 and 1966 Ken received a bachelor's degree from Yale, a master's degree from MIT, and a PhD from Stanford. While obtaining these degrees he worked for Shell in the oil fields of Texas and traveled through Mexico and Europe. In 1958 he met and within 6 months married Florence Thress of Middletown, Ohio. In 1961 they had a son Bradley Graham (Hales) and in 1964 a daughter, Gillian Adair (Hansen). In 1965 a daughter Pamela Kelley (Kirkpatrick) was born to complete the family. Ken enjoyed his years of work with GE, TRW, Boeing, and Unisys where he worked on many interesting projects. He retired in 2000 and moved to Washington to be near his daughter Gillian and first 3 grandchildren (Kendra ‘93, Casey '96 & Kori '98 Hansen). By 2003 four more grandchildren joined the family (Summer '00 & Skylar '01 Hales and Fiona '01 & Leland ‘03 Kirkpatrick). In 2019 Pamela Kirkpatrick succumbed to cancer after a seven-year fight. Ken and Flo spent 56 happy years together until her passing in 2015. They moved 15 times during their marriage, from the East Coast to the West Coast and the reverse several times. Ken had been to all 50 states. They loved traveling - especially to Europe where they loved visiting museums, seeing the beautiful landscape, and tasting the local fare. Ken loved spending time with his family, passing on his knowledge and enthusiasm to his children and grandchildren. He took his family on many Sierra Club trips, camping, backpacking, skiing and scuba diving adventures. He spent many years refereeing countless youth soccer games. Ken had a passion for running, photography, and technology. He also shared his competitive nature by playing many card and board games. Ken spent his last four years thriving in Heron's Key senior living community where he enjoyed making many great friends. He loved sharing his passions with others and never lost his desire to learn new things. This combination culminated with him personally publishing his life story, " Born in the Bronx " which highlights many of his life's amazing adventures. Ken's love for the outdoors started as he attained the title of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts and continued throughout his life. This passion and Ken's giving nature can be honored by those wishing to make memorial donations to the Sierra Club Foundation (sierraclub.org), or to the charity of their choosing. In tribute to his love for technology his family is planning a virtual celebration of Ken's life to be held on his birthday.

Events

PAST EVENT

Celebration of Life for Kenneth Hales

Dec 15th, 2021

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

(GMT-7:00) Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Tributes

Share a favorite memory, send condolences, and honor Kenneth’s life with a heartfelt message.

Laura Moynihan

I wrote a tribute to Ken over at my business Facebook page. He was a dear client, and I considered him a friend. The link is below, but I will also copy and paste here, for those who don't have Facebook: I'm so sad to hear about the passing of one of my favorite clients, whom I also considered a friend, Ken Hales. I met Ken when I joined the Kitsap Mac Users Group (KMUG) around 2017. Ken was a lively contributor to the group, and his intellect and love of life and technology was obvious to all. He was a frequent attendee of our free Tech Support Tuesday classes, and during this one (pictured) which was a technology term quiz show, he won! Ken also was a personal tutoring client, and he visited my house and office to let me help him with his new MacBook and iPhone. We also did remote sessions where I helped him while he sat in his easy chair at his house, and he never shied away from learning something new. I remember Ken at times telling me, "Laura, you're a genius!" But I knew *he* was brilliant one, having studied at Stanford and worked for years as an engineer for GE and Boeing. Rarely have I had a client in their 80s who was as brave and fearless of forging ahead with new things like Ken was, and he was sharp. He often talked about his memoirs he was writing, and shared them with me on occasion. He turned them into a book called "Born in the Bronx." He even wrote about our tech tutoring sessions together and this game show in one of the chapters. I was so touched. Hearing about Ken's death hit me hard. I know this is always a reality when working with seniors, but some just creep into your heart more than others. Ken was one of those. He's pictured in this screenshot during one of our funnier moments during the class, in the bottom left square. I wish I had a better screenshot of him - but I wanted to get this memorial to Ken out while it was still fresh in my heart and mind. Our thoughts are with Gillian, his daughter whom I briefly met, and his other children and grandchildren. With love, Laura https://www.facebook.com/106533611016441/posts/450941276575671/

Published December 31st, 2021

Mary Kazlusky

The ultimate scientist, Ken was always seeking new gadgets and ways to solve problems. We shared the love of all things "APPLE" although he always had the newest item available while I was at least a year behind. I remember him insisting on getting an iPhone 13 practically the day it came out. He loved that phone! Ken attended practically every event offered by Heron's Key frequently sitting on the end of the front row. I miss him. Happy Birthday, Ken!!

Published December 3rd, 2021

Gary Stotler

I think I shall always remember seeing Ken move slowly down the halls here at Heron's Key with his ear buds in. If I approached him, there would be this big smile and he would remove the ear buds and we might chat or just say a greeting. Always a quiet, calm voice. Always. Going to events or presentations in the Maritime Room, he almost always sat in the front row. And he went to a plethora of the events and activities. No sitting in his apartment for him. It was so obvious that he was very smart and learned. He always talked about his kids and being with the grand kids. Happy Birthday Ken. Thank you for being in our lives. Gary Stotler

Published December 3rd, 2021