Kenneth Wayne Roberts' Obituary
Kenneth (Ken) Wayne Roberts was born on July 12, 1946 in Holdenville, OK. He is preceded in death by his parents Voyd (Bud) Virgil, Loma Gwindola Roberts, and baby brother Roberts. He is survived by Verna, his wife of 52 years, son Devin of Chicago, son Sean and his wife Becky and daughters Emily, Adeline and Olivia of Tulsa, his younger brother Keith and Barbara of Tulsa, and various relatives including several nieces and nephews.
When he was a young boy, Ken’s family moved to Oklahoma City from their farm in Holdenville, OK where he attended first grade at Britton Elementary. After his younger brother Keith was born, the family returned to the Holdenville area where he attended Fairview Elementary and Moss for junior and senior high school. Ken helped care for the cows, horses and chickens and assisted his parents in gardening, planting and harvesting peanuts, driving the combine and tractor, and sanding floors in rural homes and gymnasiums. As he grew, he worked by his father’s side, learning the values of hard work, honesty, and integrity.
He was an officer of the Moss Future Farmers of America (FFA) and won awards for his soil management. Those skills would provide for him and his family for years to come, even after he had a family of his own. His garden, however small, would always seem to produce great vegetables.
In high school, when not helping on the family farm, he loved visiting his aunts and uncles, who lived near them. Ken often spent long days and nights together with his first cousins at their Grandma’s house. He lived a simple childhood loving to fish, to ride horses, and to play on his high school basketball and baseball teams.
After graduating high school in 1964, he went to college at East Central in Ada. Two semesters later, because he focused more time on pinball, pool, and ping pong than his grades, he was drafted into the military where he served almost four years in the air traffic control towers at the Air Force base in Okinawa, Japan.
When Ken’s service time was up, he moved to Tulsa to be near his parents and other Roberts relatives who had moved there. Ken worked nights at Shell Oil Company in Tulsa in the key punch card sorting area. That is where he met Verna, his future wife, who worked days as a manager receptionist. One morning, after his night shift, he came by her desk to purchase a $.10 stamp so he could mail a payment to the bank for his ‘69 Firebird. After buying a stamp, that same afternoon, he phoned her to ask her out. They dated for five months and got married five months later.
Ken gave his life to the Lord in 1975 and was baptized at Gracemont Baptist Church in Tulsa. A year later, Ken and Verna had their first child, Devin. They moved to Broken Arrow and had their second son 17 months later. Ken and Verna were married 52 years in total, staying in the same house for the remainder of their marriage. There they raised two sons, hosting neighbors and friends on a regular basis. He liked to spend his anniversaries with Verna watching OU men’s and women’s basketball. He and she also liked going on cruises to different parts of the world.
Ken worked various jobs before starting a business of his own in 1991, which would later be called Graphic Resources. He sold architectural and drafting supplies. He would take orders by the phone in the morning and deliver in the afternoon. Verna was a stay at home mom until the boys started school. Then, she completed her degree and began teaching at the Broken Arrow Senior High School. They began working full time together at Graphic Resources in 1997. The business grew within a decade to provide printing and equipment sales and service. Today, Graphic Resources remains a family-owned business as Sean is now the majority owner.
Ken’s life was shaped by serving others in many ways outside of work. He took care of his family and both his mother and mother-in-law at the end of their lives. Ken also served his Christian brothers and sisters as deacon at four different churches in the Tulsa area beginning in the early 1980s until his death.
Visitation will be from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM, on Friday, August 30th, at Floral Haven Funeral Home, and the funeral service will be at 10:00 AM, on Saturday, August 31st both at Floral Haven Funeral Home Chapel.
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