Kenneth Leroy Watson was born July 15, 1946 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and passed away on Saturday, January 14, 2017, at age 70 in the Winner Regional Healthcare Center.
Ken graduated from high school in Ulysses, Kansas in 1963 and joined the Navy the following fall. He served in the Navy and Navy Reserves for a total of 14 years, including two tours in Vietnam. Ken cherished his time served in the military and was proud to say he served this great country.
On May 31, 1975, Ken married Lori Stritecky at the Colome United Methodist Church. They moved to Sioux Falls where he worked various jobs until he graduated from Southeast Area Technical Institute with a degree in Electronics. They had two sons, Kevin and Ryan.
In 1979, they moved to Crooks, SD where Ken was active in the community with the Crooks VFW, Tri-Valley Booster Club, Crooks Optimist Club, served on the church board of Benton Lutheran Church, and various baseball programs in Crooks. While in Crooks for 22 years, Ken and his family created lifelong friends not only in Crooks but the surrounding communities which he cherished until his death. He always cherished teaching and coaching not only his own two boys, but numerous kids of the community and showing them life lessons through sports. He was active in the Tri-Valley School district where his sons attended school and graduated from. If there was one thing Ken loved was attending the various activities with friends and supporting his beloved “MUSTANGS”. Ken was a current member of the Winner United Methodist Church and Gregory American Legion.
After their sons graduated from high school, Ken and Lori moved to Gregory, SD in 1998 for 5 years. He then followed his wife with her Traveling Nurse Career. They bought a home in Peoria, AZ in 2007 where he worked as a cashier at AJ’s Fine Foods and Bashas’ Grocery Chain until his retirement in 2013. He was a season ticket holder for the Arizona Cardinals for seven years and enjoyed going to various Arizona Diamondback games and spending time with his family in the Phoenix area. Ken always had a passionate side for animals especially his fur babies Gizmo and Bella.
Due to health issues they recently moved back to Colome, SD in July 2016 to be closer to family and friends. With his love for sports, Ken touched many lives teaching and mentoring kids in the various baseball and basketball programs in the Crooks and Sioux Falls area, but most of all was looking forward to watching his grandchildren grow up. In addition to family time, he also enjoyed his boating, coin collecting, camping, pheasant hunting, cheering on the Denver Broncos and bowling. Ken always wanted was best for the kids of the community and always strived to get the best out of the kids he taught and coached.
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