May 22, 1944 - February 12, 2024
Kenton E. Mattheis was born on May 22, 1944, in Pierre, South Dakota, to Ewald and Thelma (Sherwood) Mattheis. He died on February 12, 2024 after seven and a half years of kidney dialysis and is buried in Kirk, Colorado. As a young child, he often told people that he was born on the day his parents got married. True enough, exactly one year later.
Ewald was overseas in World War 2 and did not meet his son for over a year. He and his mom lived with the Sherwood grandparents in DeGrey until his dad came home in 1945. They then moved to the family farm south of Harrold, South Dakota. Ken was later joined by three younger sisters: Marlene, Linda and LaVonne.
Ken's mom had a bottled milk delivery business in Harrold and Ken's job was to milk approximately twelve cows using a milking machine. After he left for the Navy, his dad sold all of the cows except one.
He graduated from high school in 1962, immediately joined the Navy and served aboard the Constellation on its maiden voyage at the beginning of the Vietnam War. In fact, he was aboard the “Conny” (as its crew called it) as it rushed to the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2, 1964 to serve as backup for the Ticonderoga. He was honorably discharged in June, 1965.
He had plans to marry Polly Buchanan on March 6, 1966, but a South Dakota spring blizzard changed those plans. The postponed wedding was performed the following week on March 13th. . To this union, two children were born: Brett in 1967 and Stephanie in 1969.
He attended University of South Dakota - Springfield and earned a degree in diesel mechanics. He worked in aviation facilities for Northwest Airlines in Cleveland, Ohio, and in Wall, South Dakota. He moved to Kearney, Nebraska and worked for Harms Drywall installing sheet rock and for Eaton Corporation making various vehicle valves.
He met Carol Mann while in Kearney and they married on November 24, 1986, in Yuma, Colorado. They moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado and spent all of their married life there. He worked for Digital Corporation and Quantum building computers, drives and other peripherals there until he retired in 2001.
He dearly loved to spend time in the kitchen cooking and watching college sports, particularly football, basketball and baseball. He also liked a good joke and was a great teller of stories, a trait he shared with his mother. He brought great stories home almost daily from Digital and Quantum. When he was in Kearney, he loved to fish with Brett and Stephanie and several fishing buddies, including Carl Rasmussen.
Surviving relatives include his wife, Carol, his son, Brett of Papillion, Nebraska, three grandsons, Austin, Chase and Rider, three sisters, Marlene (Dennis) Marso of Harrold, South Dakota, Linda Mattheis of Lehi, Utah and LaVonne (Gary) Harkless of Green Valley, Arizona. Also surviving are two aunts, Barbara Thimsen of Pierre, South Dakota and Beverly Rupkalvis of Grand Island, Nebraska, three sisters-in-law, Karen (Ed) Sladek of Chambers, Nebraska, Kendra Mann of Kirk, Colorado, and Kellie Mann of Garden City, Kansas, and a host of nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his daughter, Stephanie, his parents, Ewald and Thelma, both sets of grandparents, several aunts and uncles, close cousins and pals, LeRoy Metzinger and Larry Mattheis, and his beloved Shih Tzu, KC, who was the light of his life in recent years.
