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In memory of
Robert "Ken" Kenyon Innes, Jr.
October 1, 1951 - December 18, 2020
Oct 1, 1951 - Dec 18, 2020
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Ken's obituary
Ken was born in Bronxville, New York to Robert Kenyon Innes and Carol Winstead Innes. and moved to California in 1960. He spent most of his childhood in Palo Alto. He was an altar boy and Eagle Scout and he enjoyed water polo, tennis, swimming, camping, and hiking.
He attended Walter Hayes Elementary School, Palo Alto High School (Class of 1969) and Harvard University (Class of 1973). At Harvard, he rowed crew, programmed computers and graduated magna cum laude in English History. After college, he went to work as a computer programmer in San Francisco. He and Rose met at Esprit de Corps in SF and they married in June 1978. He earned an MBA from Stanford University in 1979. Ken graduated as the top accounting student in the class and an Arjay Miller Scholar. He then took his computer expertise to IBM at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. With the title “programmer extraordinaire”, he served as a data processing manager for an Esprit affiliate in The Hague. In 1984, he and Rose returned to the SF Bay Area and Ken went to work at his father’s company. Ken continued to work as a SAP developer until his glioblastoma diagnosis in 2016.
Outside of work, Ken was very involved with bible studies and adult education at The Church of the Good Shepherd in Pacifica, Cursillo, Marriage Encounter, St. Vincent de Paul, and St. Edmond’s Episcopal Church in Pacifica. Ken volunteered weekly with Temenos Ministry, calling it “Being present to the people we serve”. In 2005 Ken, planned and, with his son Peter, brother Jeff and nephew Alex, hiked the 211+ miles of the John Muir Trail from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney.
Ken was an avid lover of Shakespeare and he was a season ticket holder at his favorite theater company, California Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes). He especially loved the Bard’s history plays. One of Ken’s life goals was to see every Shakespeare play. He almost accomplished this goal. As of 2016, he had seen all but 3 of them. Ken was a lifelong learner and an avid lover of Scripture and music (especially the San Francisco Symphony). He also appreciated fine wines with gourmet cuisine, and he was an avid bird-watcher.
Ken and Rose were avid U.S. and international travelers. His extended family and friends always enjoyed Ken sharing his enthusiasm for learning and exploring.
Ken was the very proud father of Peter and Clare. One of his ultimate joys was being able to attend both their weddings in April (Clare and Josh) and September (Peter and Shannon) in 2018.
Clare has shared that Dad taught us a love for exploration, a focus on critical thinking, and to enjoy our hobbies. He offered sage advice like “always have a book and show up 15 minutes early” & “Let others enjoy things, even if you don’t care for them”. Peter always appreciated the kind support and guidance from his father.
Many, many thanks to all who have loved us through the years. Thank you God for leading Ken to me and his wise pursuit of you and each other. Thank you Ken for being a kind, loving, fun husband and prayer partner. Thanks to our parents who went above and beyond with their tireless love and care that gave us the steadfast love to run the course. Thanks to all of you who stepped in and took over tasks where I needed help - especially Theresa for setting up the blog even if I didn’t keep it up and for Jeff Innes and Theresa for attending many doctors’ appointments and helping us navigate the medical terrain.
Thank you to Kaiser for ALWAYS lending a helping hand every step of the way. And thank you to UCSF for letting us attend your support groups and classes and always being there for us. Thanks to Pathways Hospice who would let me call at all hours and would come out if I needed them. Thank you to our faith communities near and far for your prayers and visits. Thank you to our caregivers who gave me a break!
Thank you Mary and Jean who would drop everything and give me a ride, or help me set up the hospital wing/ cruise cabin downstairs or watch Ken while I went to the dentist or a support group. Thank you Patty for coming right over to help me on Ken’s last day. Thanks to my neighbors who would bring us goodies and a lovely visit or a prompt hand in case of crisis. Thanks to our friends who would stop by with a meal and a visit and fix my fire alarms or plant succulents in my front garden. Thanks to everyone who visited from around the country, who called and who helped me strategize (like where to go in case of a fire evacuation!). I had at least one meaningful telephone call every day. (Phone calls are my love language.) I never felt completely isolated! Yay! Thanks also to the hearty souls who would venture out on a field trip with us! For a very long time, we went on excursions nearly every day.
Thank you Jean for your enduring exuberant love for us, especially all your help with the Memorial Prayer Service, website and obituary. Thank you to Peter for work on the slide show and Marie and Shannon for anchoring the virtual event. Thank you Josh for making the beautiful urn and Clare for helping me with HR matters when I needed help and hosting the after party. Thank you all for visiting and helping me on location!
Thank you Fr. Bill for bringing Ken’s wish to life and everyone reading, singing or speaking at Ken’s memorial prayer service. If you have a memory or haiku to share, please stay for the informal after party after the service or share on his private site.
A virtual memorial service will be held at 2:30 pm PST on Saturday, February 6. Private burial services will be held at a later date. We're using an online, private form to collect the info we need to invite you to attend the online service. Will you please copy and paste this link into your browser to give us the needed info: https://qtrial2019q4az1.az1.q…
If you can't make that work, please email jeanmtps@hushmail.com and we'll get you what you need.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the San Francisco Symphony
( https://www.sfsymphony.org/Do… ) or CalSHAKES
( https://donate.calshakes.org/… ).
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$200.00
Raised by 3 people
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Recent contributions
In lieu of flowers
Please consider a donation to any cause of your choice.
$200.00
Raised by 3 people
Recent contributions
Recent contributions
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Created with love by
Rose Innes (Ken's wife).
