What was the Do you guys remember anyone of you from Berkeley? It was for socializing. Correct. Theater, you know, maybe some chat. Okay. Graduation. During that time, they didn't have activity centers for elementary, middle school, or high school. So, Ken knew that that was something that needed to be started. An activity center where kids can hang out, have leadership meetings with parties. He knew what was best for students. So when we moved here, he made sure that that elementary activity student center and the high school activity center. Now remember, middle school and high school activity center were merged together back in the 80s. Then we realized a big mistake because of the times and scheduling and the so made it happen where they brought over the mobile that we had from Berkeley that was for the media center. Do you all remember the the mobile?
Yeah. Now when that mobile moved they moved mobile here they felt better that they were middle school was able to have their own place to have that social interaction and then the last 10 years a middle school had been closed the activity center because it was too old and then finally got it renovated finally got a brand new one that opened in the fallen came during the opening and felt so much better that it's still standing and that when he came that it was his last CSV visit. So when the school moved here in 1980 to his last visit, I mean I just I just think that that was a great closure for him just knowing that CSC is still in good shape and standing strong. Now he always loved leadership annually he'd go to the Asamar asar retreat in Pacific Grove. Now he felt that leadership was incredibly important.
So he would teach those strengths in the fall to set a good tone throughout the school year. Now I want to let you all know to this day CSC still does that even though we don't go to the Syllamar we still uh run those events here with our on our campus with our staff. So still explaining that we are still carrying that on. All right we got two more student life council. There were two reps from each cottage from elementary, middle school, and high school. They would all meet monthly to make sure they're able to express what needs to be improved and what they like about the cottage role and whatnot. So, it's all about him was students who came first. To this day, we still carry this on. We are carrying on to the work. And what's amazing, you know, night attendance overnight and stay up all night.
Now, what did they have to do back in the day? You remember they had to be hearing. You're right. They had they could not be deaf because they wanted a hearing person to hear if the doors were opening and closing or if the windows were opening and closing and they were trying to sneak out and they they had to be hearing and Ken said no. He fought and fought and fought. Finally was able to hire the first death night attendant and that was because of Ken because he knew that Jeff could do a better job. And who that is is Derek Justice. Weren't you very young? Weren't you like 18 or 19 when you accepted as a night attendant? 18 years old. Now there is a whole lot more but that's the seven total items that he really his work that I wanted to talk to you apex through this day.
Like Kurt Nikki explain wanted the best. We wanted to make sure that you were successful. And I found this book. It's a very old book that was typed up in 1980. In 1980, he typed up what student life should look like, what it should look like, morning, no, and night, leadership organizations, meetings, brushing your teeth. I mean, everything. He put this together. And then what he did with this, he sent it out to other dev schools. He wanted to uplift these other dev schools. He didn't want to think just for CSV. And I was amazed reading through this. It is incredibly fascinating some of the words he used. But this work to this day is still carried on. It's amazing, right? Well, learning a lot more about Ken. We'll never stop learning. And overall that's why two years ago, two years ago, CSC hosted a very big celebration in honor of him, the metal shaped sculpture of his face.
So the first one is his senior picture and then the last day of his work. So he deserves that spot and it is now posted at our high school activity center. He was surprised with this celebration. most heartfelt moment he said with CFC even to the stage before he passed. He said this was his best moment and my wife Stephanie the last few years we saw that Ken was starting to age and people were talking about his legs and but always enjoyed his company. He was never a dull moment. learned so much with wisdom. And every time we we would meet, he would fire me up. He would help me motivate me to come to work and do my best. CS has gone through some great times and some bad times, but Ken has always helped me remain strong. Thank you. All right. Lastly, I know I've gone on and on, but like you all say, his wisdom, his knowledge, his experience.
I always think of that book. It's called Tuesdays with my great book. Now, when I read the book, it makes me think of K. So, I suggest you all to read this. As I stated, it's got great lessons, many things that can be shared that's inspiring. And there's things that I think about that when I remember this book, it helps me move forward. So, thank you, Ken, for everything you've done to CSV, with me, with our families, and with everyone. Lastly, as dean of students, I feel that it is an honor and a privilege to lead student life because of him and to his family. Love you all. Thank you. This this guy this guy is a really special person. If it weren't for him, I don't know where we'd be. And smiling right now up there and relieved that you've taken the reigns and that you're acting on what he has planned for the school.
He didn't just read this, you lived it. Right. I read every word. That's right. And that's why we love you. Thank you, man. So, as I was trying to figure out what I say, I uh I had some I had some prepared remarks, but I don't want to just receive what everybody else has said. So, thanks to my phone, I can make some last minute changes. If I had this on paper, I couldn't do that, right? Thank goodness for technology. editing. Got to love it. First of all, we are here to honor a remarkable man and a very dear friend. He lived to 98 years old and he did those six push-ups when he was 96. How many of you can do that now? I doubt there are many of you. maybe 0.001% of men of his age could do what he did and I admire him for it.
Ted's legacy is without parallel. He had such a deep bond with his school. His father graduated from the school for the death. Then did Kim and continued to work at the school and not only that after retirement he continued to work tirelessly for the school. His heart was clearly here. He's also an author. He wrote a book about the school. It wasn't just a thin little book either. It was maybe three or so months ago. I read the book called The Boys of Riverside and it was written by a New York Times reporter dealing focusing on the football program at CHP Riverside. I sent that to the can and he wanted to find the reporter's name and contact information. So Kirk was on the on the job. So, we sent our CSV history to that same reporter and just Ken's eagerness to get CSV Fremont on the map side just shows how much his heart is with the school.
We were thrilled to finally have a dev of students, some of them serve as a role model. I went to the school for the death in Mississippi, but it turned out not to be a good fit for my family. The culture just wasn't right for us. Just around that time when Ken was about to retire, meaning his position was going to be open, he reached out to me and reached out to me and asked me if I'd like to come back and do that position. I'd only been in Mississippi for a year, but I knew it was time to repack. Ken had immense shoes to fill. I I my two feet couldn't fill one of his shoes, but he knew how to make that transition smooth. He had trained his staff well and it was a privilege for me to have the staff that he had trained and for that among many other things I'm forever grateful to him.
On a personal note, I first moved here 50 years ago as a teacher. At that time, Kent was the adjustment teacher. And right away, I knew he was gonna be my best friend. We hit it off immediately. He was my role model. He just knew how to click with students. If there was any trouble, he'd come in and calm the waters instantly. Jesus had a way with students and his influence was felt over hundreds among hundreds of students over the years. We managed to have a nice close relationship, he and I. His wife, the lovely Audrey, unfortunately, passed away a 100 years ago, and I decided I needed to visit him more often. We went out for a meal every month, had a nice long chat, and I just enjoyed that time with him immensely. Ken loved his family so much. These kids, Nikki, Kurt, and Dane.
They also love golf. Dane wanted to be a pro golfer. But unfortunately, Kenser took his life and he left us too soon. Ken always talked about his family and included game all the time. And also he was a fan of the world and he and I have bonded over that. As we've gotten the impression today, there's just too many stories about Ken that we couldn't possibly share at one go. I'll never forget his kindness and his wisdom. his commitment to the school and not just to the school but to education and to the community. This was his 96th birthday. Barbara and I had the privilege to have it be is home to celebrate actually went out together to a restaurant to yell [Music] something rest in peace. We miss you. We love you. As I look back over my life working with death people, Ken was and is special, unique.
He was a proud son of the death family, a graduate of CSD, a husband, a father, and for me, he was my friend. It was honor to know him. an honor to worship him and an honor to be his friend. God bless. I need to ask a favor. I mentioned that our father had many conversations with me and my sister and myself over the last year of his life. One thing he asked us, it says, "People know me as an old man. That's all they seem to know of me. I'm old." I was young once and I said, "Yeah, but what can you do about it?" and he said, "Could you if you have a memorial event, could you print a picture of me when I was young so people will know?" So my favor is to ask of you if you have a program, could you look on the back and you'll see a picture of him young.
And so now that you know he was young once and now he'll look down at us and be happy and relieved to know that people know. When my father knew that he would go, he was coming up with many plans. He still had many ideas. And I asked him, "Well, who's going to do that thing?" And maybe Joey and Julie. Maybe they can. And I said, "Okay." The next plan, okay, well, who can do that? Maybe it would be Joey and Julie. Again and again, he thought, "Oh, the two of them can. They're very smart people. They can do anything." I told him, you know, it's their their time to live. It's their time to live. Um, but he's a person and he wanted people to listen to his ideas because they were good. I believe they were good, but those two have their own ideas.
So, I want to thank Joey uh for creating the PowerPoint presentation and editing the videos. Thank you. It was a lot of work, but thank you for that. And I'd like to introduce these two wonderful people. First of all, it's such an honor to be here. I'm grateful to Ken's family for having us here and let me share a few remarks. I've visited Ken over the past number of years to keep him company and you've already heard a lot of the stories and I have a lot more I could add, but I won't go on at any great length. But always when we got to his home, he'd ask how he's doing. He would say, "You know what? I'm still here." That was always his response. So, he wasn't just that he was still here and dealing with all the health problems. He was still persistent.
When I first met Ken, it was back in 1980 when the school opened right here. I joined here when I was 12 in seventh grade and entered junior high school before it was changed to middle school. And I remember seeing Ken standing on stage with several administrators and they were cutting doing a ribbon cutting over uh by the football field. And I saw that you was the Dina students, but I don't exactly remember when or how or where we were officially introduced and met, but I had seen him come and present to the cottages. He would socialize with the students in the activity centers until my freshman year of high school. I remember Ken had founded a student leadership retreat in at Syllammore and it was his first year. He was selecting students to attend for the weekend. It was mostly for sophomores, seniors, and seniors.
And it just so happened that first year he decided to choose three freshmen. And I was one of them. And I remember he came to me in the high school activity center and I remember this. He came to me and he said, "We talked about the retreat and he wanted to have me come and go for the weekend on Friday, Saturday, Sunday event and then come back." And I I saw him and I said, "Okay, at that time I was a regular res residential student. So I was thinking I would stay for the whole week, spend the weekend, go to the retreat, come back to two weeks straight without seeing my family." I really cared about my family and I said no. I said no, I'm not going. He tried to get me to go and I said, "No, I don't want to go." And he said, "Okay, I understand.
I understand you want to be with your family because he himself is a family guy." And I said, he said he's going to see me next year. I said, "Okay." So those students went off for the weekend and came back and talked so much about their personal growth and the leadership and social interactions and how much fun they had. And I was like, "Oh." So that the following year as a sophomore, he came to me and I said yes. And I went my sophomore, junior, and senior years and they were incredibly worth it. So I am grateful to Ken for having me go. And then as time went on, I graduated, went off to college, and then I came back here in 1993 at 25 years old as a new teacher, and I saw Ken. He had already retired just a few years prior. And where did I see him?
It was in the museum in the library volunteering his time with his wife. And the two of them were there. And that's when I actually met Audrey. And I said, "Oh, hi." And I would see them here and there because I they would bring the students to the library and chat. Then time went on. [Music] Audrey passed over nine years ago and that's when Joey and I really started to connect with Ken again. We go to his home and he cooked dinner for us with help of Kurt. And I had met Kurt. and they had good conversation and then they'd come over to our home and we'd cook for him and so we'd take turns doing that. So the last few years Joan and I would be spending more of our time going to see him and then we met Nikki. I really enjoyed those times with him, those long conversations, spending time with him, watching football games together, and now he's gone.
I was trying to think of how I would define him. Ken K is for kindhearted. He was kind. Every time you met him in person, he's so interested. He wanted to know about who you were and where you were from and what your journey was like and what your vision for the future is and then would wouldn't offer information about himself unless you asked. But it's just really really fun. E exceptional. I mean, as you all already know based off the comments of talking about sports and coaches and students and he was a family man and which is my favorite word, my personal favorite word. He was normal. He made mistakes. Sure, like all of us do. He had a dream of all of this. and his love for his family, his children, his grandchildren, great grandchildren, in-laws, cousins, including his parents. He would always talk about all of you.