Kenneth W. SORENSEN

SORENSEN, OLSON, SWANSON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/18/2009 at 12:16:16

Gazette, The (Cedar Rapids-Iowa City, IA)
April 27, 1999

Kenneth W. Sorensen, 84, of 1940 First Ave. NE, died Sunday, April 25, 1999, at Manor Care Center after an extended illness. Services: 10 a.m. Thursday, Stewart Funeral Home, by the Rev. Lloyd Brockmeyer of St. Paul's United Methodist Church. Graveside services: 3 p.m. Thursday, Lawn Cemetery, Boxholm, Iowa. Friends may call from 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.

Surviving is his wife, Dorothy. Also surviving are a nephew and a niece. Kenneth was preceded in death by his parents, a brother and sister-in-law, a sister and brother-in-law, a nephew and a great-great-niece.

Kenneth was born Aug. 21, 1914, in Clarion, Iowa, the son of Peter and Anna Olson Sorensen. His family moved to LuVerne, Iowa, in 1918. After graduation and working in LuVerne, he married Dorothy Swanson in 1945. In 1956, they moved to Cedar Rapids, where he worked for Penick & Ford Co., retiring in 1977. In 1932, Kenneth had a bone infection, and penicillin was not readily available, so he spent months in the hospital. When he was 19, a doctor told his parents he had six weeks to live. Through patience, his faith and good doctors, he stretched that six weeks to 65 years. Health problems started up again in 1963 and had continued since then. The last 10 years have been especially trying for him. He managed to keep his sense of humor and after a meal he knew where the dish towel was and how to use it. He was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church and Penick & Ford Retirees Club. A memorial fund has been established.