Ken Eugene Rowert

Ken Rowert has finally sailed from this life and on to Heaven to meet up with his brother Ron, friends and family. He had a wonderful sense of humor, keen wisdom and charm and an engaging personality that drew people to him wherever he went. He almost always wore a black cowboy hat; white cowboy boots, a nice western shirt and a leather belt with a fancy buckle. This is why people typically called him The Cowboy.

He was 4 months shy of turning 92 and 3 months shy of celebrating his 69th wedding anniversary with his loving wife, Sharon. He lived a long, full life and his friends and family were blessed to have had him in their lives for as long as they did. He was still mentally sharp as a tack and able to walk around without any assistance.

Ken proudly served his country from 1952 to 1956 in the Navy during the Korean War as a petty officer with a specialty in avionics electronics. He later went on to be a successful engineer at Boeing and Aerojet. He was instrumental in helping design the first space shuttle along with a lunar landing module.

Ken was an amazing father, husband, friend, family man, baseball and basketball player, musician, singer, engineer, farmer, gardener...there wasn't anything he couldn't do. He taught life lessons to so many; how to play sports, fish, build garages and barns from the ground up. He taught us how to work hard, so we could play harder, to always help others, to root for the underdog and find the best way to do things.

Ken loved playing games, board games, video games, sports, etc. He could shoot the lights out of a basket with a basketball. He was still draining 3-point shots at age 75 and was an all-star left-handed pitcher for his local work team in Michigan. He would take off 3 weeks at Christmas and mostly play games with his kids the majority of the time. Ken would spoil his whole family at Christmas time, and always found time for them. Even though he worked 50–60-hour weeks.

Here's a story to give you an idea of Ken’s character. Ken’s truck had broken down and he met a man near a gas station who helped him fix his truck. While the guy was working on Ken’s truck, someone stole the man’s duffle bag. The man that fixed Ken’s truck was a hitchhiker and his duffle bag had all his clothes in it. Ken told the guy to wait there, then drove 25 miles back to his house. Then told his sons to gather some of their clothes so he could give them to him. He drove back 25 miles and found the man and gave him the clothes.

Ken was a fantastic family man. He was always taking his family to amusement parks, historical landmarks, and driving them all the way from California to Michigan to visit both sets of grandparents about every 3-4 years and taking 4 days to get there in a camper, one-way. He would spend hours throwing his sons batting practice after he got home from a 10-hour work day. He would also teach them how to repair just about anything on cars, build barns and garages, roofing, electrical, plumbing, farming, model building, you name it. He also taught his kids how to play the guitar and the best way to solve math problems.

Ken “The Cowboy” Rowert’s sense of humor was legendary. He found humor in almost everything. We sure do miss his hearty laugh, and seeing him grinning from ear to ear! He always had a playful, mischievous nature. He loved playing the guitar and playing jokes with his brother. When those two got together you know trouble was right behind!!

Here's one example from his niece, Dawn Brown:

"I remember when they shaved their legs and Uncle Ken dressed as a woman (wearing a purple sweater, lipstick and a wig) and Uncle Ronnie dressed as a big Baby with a baby bottle in his diaper between his legs. They went to Walt and Eleanor's house and barged in and Uncle Ron squeezed his legs together and squirted Walter right in the Eye! It was so funny!" 😂🤣

Another story his family remembers… He was driving down a steep mountain road with his family, while his twin sons were fast asleep in the back. He lost his brakes and was speeding up quickly. He decided to crash into a chain link fence to slow and stop the car! He was going so quickly, that all four of his tires blew out shortly afterwards! It was a miracle and quick thinking on my Ken's part to save his families’ lives. Even through that harrowing experience, he STILL had a sense of humor and posed for a comical pic next to the blown-out tires on the station wagon. Of course, his sons slept through the whole thing, lol!

Ken is survived by his loving wife Sharon, his children; Kim, Tonya, Kyle, Kirk, 6 grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren. He is greatly missed but never forgotten! Ken taught his family to never give up. They will do their best not to mourn Ken, but to remember and celebrate him.