KENNETH VERNON LOOSE, age 80, died peacefully in his sleep on November 19 after a ten-year adventure with Multiple Myeloma. His life was spent lifting the lives and lightening the souls of everyone that he met.
Ken was born August 6, 1940, in Cold Lake, Alberta to Lorna (Craige) and Vernon Loose, and soon became big brother to 7 siblings.
The stories he told of his youth always included the names Burgess, Hatch, Law, Lybbert or Stonehocker, and rarely ended without a boisterous laugh and a knee slap.
After serving a mission in the Western Canadian Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he met and married his one-and-only, Mary Lyn Leavitt, and they started their family in Calgary, Alberta, and started his "grown-up career" by attending the University of Calgary,
After trying his hand at myriad professions, Ken finally found his calling in teaching. From then on, he was an educator, father and mentor to everyone he met, whether they liked it or not. From volunteering as a scout leader, teaching high school computers, or even driving truck in southern Alberta, everyone he met listened to and learned from Ken.
After teaching in Calgary for five years, he moved his small but still growing family to Cherry Grove to raise his five children with the love of his life, Lyn. He was best known for volunteering in the Scouting program, shooting candy at kids from cannons (or dropping it from airplanes) and providing unlimited popcorn and pancakes for whatever local teenagers wandered through his ever-open front door. In 1998, he began touching lives in Cardston, Alberta where he built sets for dozens of productions and took to the stage to sing and dance whenever they would let him.
His endless youth and voracious sense of humour made us all feel welcome and kept everyone entertained wherever he was.
When Ken was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2009, the doctor advised him to get his affairs in order. True to himself, Ken responded by traveling throughout North America in his motor home with his wife or siblings, finally buying a sailboat, wandering the horse trails in Waterton, and inviting everyone to his eightieth birthday party - ten years away - which they all virtually attended earlier this year!
Throughout his illness, he continued to teach by example that gratitude and service are the secret of true joy in life. Even as his body failed in his final months and weeks, he kept his nurses in stitches with a quick joke, or a story, or the latest update on space news.
He touched our lives with a generous heart, nourished our minds with new ideas and filled our bellies with endless pancakes. He showed us what it is to be a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a friend, and a liver of life.
Ken is preceded by his father, Vernon, his brother-in-law, Barry and his cat, Comit. He is survived by his mother, Lorna Loose, his wife Mary Lyn Loose, five children, twenty grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and dozens of honorary sons and daughters. He will be interred at Cardston Cemetery surrounded by immediate family.
Extended family and community members are invited to join, mourn and honor Ken on his Last Ride and Honorary Procession with the Jones Omni Bus, departing Legacy funeral home at 2:00 Monday, November 23, 2020.
Thank-you, Ken. May the wind always be at your back and your socks always be black.
In lieu of flowers, Ken has asked for donations to be made to the Canadian Cancer Society, which has helped and supported him in more ways than his family can express.
To Send a Condolence to the Family please CLICK HERE.
Ken was born August 6, 1940, in Cold Lake, Alberta to Lorna (Craige) and Vernon Loose, and soon became big brother to 7 siblings.
The stories he told of his youth always included the names Burgess, Hatch, Law, Lybbert or Stonehocker, and rarely ended without a boisterous laugh and a knee slap.
After serving a mission in the Western Canadian Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he met and married his one-and-only, Mary Lyn Leavitt, and they started their family in Calgary, Alberta, and started his "grown-up career" by attending the University of Calgary,
After trying his hand at myriad professions, Ken finally found his calling in teaching. From then on, he was an educator, father and mentor to everyone he met, whether they liked it or not. From volunteering as a scout leader, teaching high school computers, or even driving truck in southern Alberta, everyone he met listened to and learned from Ken.
After teaching in Calgary for five years, he moved his small but still growing family to Cherry Grove to raise his five children with the love of his life, Lyn. He was best known for volunteering in the Scouting program, shooting candy at kids from cannons (or dropping it from airplanes) and providing unlimited popcorn and pancakes for whatever local teenagers wandered through his ever-open front door. In 1998, he began touching lives in Cardston, Alberta where he built sets for dozens of productions and took to the stage to sing and dance whenever they would let him.
His endless youth and voracious sense of humour made us all feel welcome and kept everyone entertained wherever he was.
When Ken was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2009, the doctor advised him to get his affairs in order. True to himself, Ken responded by traveling throughout North America in his motor home with his wife or siblings, finally buying a sailboat, wandering the horse trails in Waterton, and inviting everyone to his eightieth birthday party - ten years away - which they all virtually attended earlier this year!
Throughout his illness, he continued to teach by example that gratitude and service are the secret of true joy in life. Even as his body failed in his final months and weeks, he kept his nurses in stitches with a quick joke, or a story, or the latest update on space news.
He touched our lives with a generous heart, nourished our minds with new ideas and filled our bellies with endless pancakes. He showed us what it is to be a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a friend, and a liver of life.
Ken is preceded by his father, Vernon, his brother-in-law, Barry and his cat, Comit. He is survived by his mother, Lorna Loose, his wife Mary Lyn Loose, five children, twenty grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and dozens of honorary sons and daughters. He will be interred at Cardston Cemetery surrounded by immediate family.
Extended family and community members are invited to join, mourn and honor Ken on his Last Ride and Honorary Procession with the Jones Omni Bus, departing Legacy funeral home at 2:00 Monday, November 23, 2020.
Thank-you, Ken. May the wind always be at your back and your socks always be black.
In lieu of flowers, Ken has asked for donations to be made to the Canadian Cancer Society, which has helped and supported him in more ways than his family can express.
To Send a Condolence to the Family please CLICK HERE.